Malta Cacti

[Bill]

A bit late but better that than never.

Was given the afternoon of from family holidays to go plant seeing.

First up was John Gauci of cactus Heaven who was to be my "guide". John as some of you may know supplies quite a lot of seed, which he gets from growers round the world. His own collection is quite small and consists largly of copiapoas, arios and a small mixed collection of other bits and pieces, space being a premium in Malta most of his collection is on the roof housed in an opaque polycarbonate greenhouse and several polycarbonate coldframes. John made me feel very welcome and we spent an or two talking not just plants but also about home as John coincidently used to live on Anglesey.

From Johns we went to home of Francois the vice president of the Maltese Society.

But before I go on a word about driving in Malta it's "always my right of way" this means you never leave a gap, never hesitate and never slow down for roundabouts. Contrary to popular believe (and the Maltese highway code) solid white lines actually mean overtake and speed limits are an absolute minimum once you are out of built-up areas. If you don't have a dent in your car, then you must be in a hire car, therefore you will be cut up and beeped at for driving too slow.

So to Francois's collection, we entered his house through the garage and out the back to a small garden where there was an 8x6 greenhouse and a 30 x 10, the latter was of most interest to me as a good third of it was Haworthias many in 8-10 pans, as well as Sanservias and quite a few cacti (many newly grafted seedlings) as well as some other succulents. The smaller greenhouse house a collection of mixed bigger cacti and pachypodiums most of which had just been moved from the garden for the winter. Along with the plants still outdoors quite impressive collection except of course this was not all, "we'll go to the main greenhouse now" Francios said. Not sure whether it was 3 or 4 floors up but we emerged from the gloom, (most Maltese homes seem quite dark) into the sunshine to be confronted by a well shaded greenhouse that covered most of the roof maybe 30'x30' packed to the gunnels with plants. There was something for everyone literally as you'll get a hint of in the pictures. Not clear from the pictures is that there are 2/3 levels of shelving and there was one 30' run underneath that just held over wintering Pachypodyums that had spent the summer out on the roof, yes Tina 30 x 3 worth of Pachypodiums, hundreds of them. One thing that puzzled me was how do you get supplies to a greenhouse 30-40 foot in the air, simple you have a shaft from the garage to the roof and electric hoist.

Several cultivation differences to note, they water weekly or more often during the summer, shading all year round is a must, the growing season runs from March to November, consequently much more growth can be put on in a season.

I could have spent hours looking at Francois's wonderful collection. But we had a third visit to make. On to Mario's.

Mario is the President of the society and I would guess of Italian background. his collection is again on the roof of his home is in part housed in a 20-30 cold frame, unfortunately the light was a bit dim to get any decent shots of it. a few plants in a mini greenhouse and the rest in two well lit shed like structures. Mario's collection was quite a contrast to Francios's as you can see from the pictures. The difference being Mario is a propagator and Francois the collector. As you will note for the pictures Mario is big on Ariocarpus and Astrophytums, but there was all sorts of things crammed into the every corners, to move one plant meant another falling over. Many of those enormous Astrophytum are in tiny pots, in an attempt to restrict their growth, another reason why they have a habit of falling over.

We spent several hours at Marios consuming more than the odd bottle of vino while discussing plants and society politics and whatever you think of ours, we are tame in comparison to the Maltese Society. eventually the annoying vibration in my pocket could no longer be ignored (OH wanted to no whether I was coming back for dinner) and I had to take my leave of Mario.

I would like to publicly thank Francios, Mario and John for their welcome, the fact I am a novice was not an issue and I would say if you are going abroad, contact the local society and go visiting, it was most enjoyable. The only regret I had was not having more time to visit Rene's and Dereks Garden which has an amazing collection of planted out columnar cacti.

And I suppose the bit you are really interested in the pictures. Not my best was having an issue with the camera, not only that but too much to look at and talk about.

Malta Album. http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/bill.hildyard

Feel free to ask any questions and I'll do my best to answer.

[Vic]

Looks like you had a great day Bill - they certainly know how to pack them in. Thanks for sharing the pics!:)

[Julie]

Thanks for the photos and travelogue, Bill!

Wow, what plants! That's what you call an efficient use of space. Surely there's not enough time in a day to oggle them all?

Seems the dreaded Oxalis gets everywhere.

[Bill]

You're welcome Vic

No problem Julie. Even worse it was only half a day and it was getting dark by the time we got to Mario's, you could have spent a day at Francois's place alone.

[Maria J]

Fantastic!! Never seen anything quite like it!
Mario's 'shed' seems quite dark but the plants look ok!

[Cactus Jack]

Thanks Bill , I'd like to own whats in the president's no.3 g.house! WOW

[Süleyman]

Hi Bill,
Thanks for sharing this very nice Cactus-trip.
I know John. I buy some cacti from him time to time. His stuff is generally grafted but very rare ones. And they are very healthy.

[Marlon Machado]

Very nice collections Bill, thanks for the text and the pictures!

Cheers,

[phil]

Loooks like you had a great time Bill thanks for sharing. Some of the spaces seemed a little gloomy without much natural light, but the plants seemed to be growing well was that that so?

[Bill]

It was dusk when we got to Mario's Maria.

You're welcome Stephen, I wouldn't mind a greenhouse that size, let alone the plants.

Hi Suleyman glad you enjoyed them, I think John acts as a sort of agent for many growers on the island. I think Turkey is on the list for next years holiday, so I may well be picking your brains next year.

No problem Marlon, I believe you have met Francois, he seemed to know you and said to say hello.

You're welcome Phil. The light was a bit deceptive, it was a very grey day so with the shading up etc seems gloomy, but days like that are very few and far between, normally the sun is very bright and the shading is essential, the plants are actually very healthy grow and quite quickly.