2012
4th February – Marimurtra Botanical Gardens – Presentation - Soils of Catalonia and Plant Health
Peter Steadman gave an excellent presentation on the soils of Catalonia and Plant Health – it was a great opportunity for members to understand how important our soil is when planting and choosing the right plant for the right place.
After the presentation we toured the gardens and Jordi Fabregas, who previously worked at Marimurtra , gave us lots of information on the various plants along the way. It was a lovely day, which ended with a lovely lunch at Restaurant Melangies in Blanes.
2011
17TH DECEMBER 2012 – GARDEN TOUR & CHRISTMAS LUNCH AT PACHA MAMA - CALONGE
The group of sixteen members toured around the garden giving me some good ideas. The garden is terraced over five levels and has a combination of different planting designs. After the tour we had a very productive planning session where we agreed on an agenda for this 2012. We had a wonderful Gourmet Christmas Lunch with all types of different dishes contributed by the attendees and of course some libations - a good end to a good year!!!
8th OCTOBER – Talk by Dick Handscombe at Melissa Levy’s Garden
Another lovely day where 36 members and friends of the MGS started the day by sipping coffee and walking around Melissa’s beautiful garden. This was followed by an very interesting talk by Dick Handscombe, who explained the many concepts of Mediterranean Gardening in an Ecological manner. Dick brought along some free organic products to try together with some medicinal plants. Members where also given the opportunity to purchase any or all of his six Mediterranean Gardening books at a discounted price.
The rest of the day Dick mingled with members and answered their many gardening questions
The plant & seed stand was very popular and thanks to everyone for contributing so many plants and seeds. This was a success as we raised 165 euro for the local Chaplaincy of St. Stephen’s. What a great way the MGS can contribute to the local community
The picnic lunch was a huge success with many contributions of a variety of different and tasty foods.
September 2012 – Visit to Gardens of Xavier Corbero
What a wonderful day – 22 members had the opportunity to not only visit to the private gardens of the famous Catalan Sculptor Xavier Corbero but also to see his amazing house and collection of sculptures. Miru gave us a tour of the garden, which has some wonderful trees, patios and nooks and crannies to keep us all interested.
Xavier guided us through many larger than life stone sculptures that stand in one of his gardens alongside a flowing pool. You can see one of Xavier’s sculptures in the entrance to Cap Roig Gardens. Afterwards we had a lovely picnic in the Garden of Human Rights which are in the grounds of the old Philips Factory in Barcelona.
JUNE 2011 - VISIT TO SALA GRAUPERA NURSERY
The visit to Sala Graupera was a glorious day when 20 members visited this wonderful nursery. Sala Graupera has 50 years of experience in cultivating plants from all the Mediterranean zones – specifically Australia and South American. The owner, Luise, gave us a tour of their extensive commercial propagation area – taking us through the various stages of cultivation – a true education. His wealth of knowledge, enthusiasm and humour enthralled us all.
The nursery was in full bloom with Salvias of every colour, together with an extensive collection of Grevilleas and Grasses. All plants are exclusively labelled for Mediterranean growing conditions. We also viewed their plant trial area which had some very interesting grasses and lawn alternatives.
Although Sala Graupera does not sell direct to the public they will take orders from MGS members – you would need to send them an email of what you would like to purchase and then pick it up. They have a very colourful catalogue in English, Catalan and Spanish. I am definitely going down with my trailer in October to fill it up with some unusual plants. For more information: www.salagraupera.com.
MAY 2011 - GUIDED WILDFLOWER WALK BY CHRISTOPHER WITTY
Christopher took us on a truly remarkable guided walk of the area of Montseny (photo below). This year proved to be one of the best years ever for wildflowers – the group saw many different wildflowers including an Orchid (photograph below).
Chris’s knowledge of Wildflowers gained from his extensive travels is so interesting – thanks again Chris. We hope to repeat it next year if Chris is up for it. Although only 14 members attended the event it was an exceptional day so please don’t think that if only a few people attend our events it’s not worth attending.
MAY 2011 TALK ON MEDITERRANEAN PLANTS BY JOHN FIELDING
We joined the UK MGS Branch for an interesting talk and wonderful photographic experience by John Fielding. John a very knowledgeable plants-man took us through a photographic tour of Greece, Cyprus, Israel, France North Africa & Spain and we didn’t even have to leave our seats. It was also pleasant to chat over dinner with fellow MGS members from the UK. Thanks John!!!
APRIL 2011 –
Visit to OLSérignan-du-Comtat RARE PLANT FAIR - FRANCE
Brian Constable arranged a great day at the Nursery of Oilivier Filippi where the guru gave members of the Catalonia and Langedoc a very informative tour of his garden, nursery and trials area. The following day they enjoyed a visit to Sérignan-du-Comtat – Rare Plant Fair. We are hoping that next time there will be more interest from members, however, if there is anywhere in particular you would like to visit in France or Spain please let me know.
APRIL 2011
GUIDED TOUR OF BARCELONA BOTANICAL GARDENS
It was a glorious day of sunshine for our visit to the Botanical Gardens where 19 members attended. We had an excellent guide who gave the tour in English and took us through South Africa, Australia, and other Mediterranean plant growing countries. She explained many of the plants in depth which was very enlightening. We had a picnic lunch in the grounds outside and then returned to continue touring around the countries we had missed. We were also fortunate to have Evarist March from Natural walks in our group who further explained many of the plants. Thanks Evarist!!!
MARCH 2011
MGS TRIP TO ISRAEL –– by our roaming reporter Brian Constable
In March of this year Alisdair Aird through the auspices of the MGS and the Cyclamen Society organized a week´s trip to Israel. The Guide was Oron Peri who lives in Israel, and is a member of the MGS.
The first day was spent in Jerusalem when we saw the city from various view points, visited the Market, the Wailing Wall and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Twice we tried to visit the al-Aksa Mosque and couldn´t enter. The mesquite in Cordoba may not have a golden dome but the Moorish
Leaving Jerusalem the next day the scenery rapidly changed to “desert like” as we drove down towards the Dead Sea. No irrigation here.
The visit to the Kibbutz Ein-Gedi Botanical Garden was wonderful, full of beautiful flowers and trees, mainly from Africa and other tropical regions. These included Pseudobombax ellipticum.
Near the Sea of Galilee and onto the Golan Heights we stopped various times to see wild flowers including Lupinus pilosus, Ferrula communus, Cyclamen persicum, Fritillaria persica, Iris atrofusca etc.
The “no-expense-spared” (reputedly costing $ 270million) spectacular Baha´i Gardens in Haifa were not to everybody´s taste but there were lots of very pleasant water features. Thank goodness we started at the top as there were about a thousand vertiginous steps to go down.
The last day was spent visiting the Poleg Stream Nature Reserve and the beautiful Rothschild Memorial Garden. In the former we found Iris atropurpurea, while in the latter there were Ranunculus asiatica (red Buttercup!!!) Orchis tridentata, Iris bismarkania amongst a wonderful variation of scenery every time one turned a corner.
The last visit was to an old friend´s garden. Nurit´s. How she manages to find space for all the material she has I don´t know. And keep it in order too.
All the flowers we saw on the trip were everything we were led to believe and I really enjoyed that part. It was due to Oron´s local knowledge that we were able to see as many as we did. In one desert area there was hardly a flower to be seen, were with normal Spring rainfall it would have been like a meadow.
According to the experts the most unusual and rare plant we saw was a parasite, Cynomorium coccineum. It was just growing out of the sand between two apparently half dead shrubs and
Below are a couple of the many wonderful photos Brian has taken – however if you would like to see more photos contact him on Brian.constable@gmail.com
MARCH 2011
VISIT TO Gite Mimosa in Sorede & TALK BY HORTACULTURIST GIL POUND
It was a wonderful sunny day when 26 members and friends of the MGS came to Matt & Ali’s Garden in Sorede. The day started a welcome from Jean Vaché, MGS President, and followed by a tour of Gite Mimosa’s lovely garden which surrounds an amazing swimming pool that Matt has built for his Triathalon training programmes.
Whilst sipping local wine & munching on sundried hummus and crudities member’s brainstormed ideas to help Matt & Ali improve their already lovely garden. The tour was followed by a very informative presentation by Gill Pound on Gardening and Gardens in the Languedoc which gave us lots of good ideas for unusual planting. Gill recommended the following books: Landscape plants for dry regions - Jones & Sacamano - Fisher books 2000; Perennials for the Southwest – Mary Irish - Timber press 2006; Agaves, Yuccas & related plants - Mary & Gary Irish - Timber press 2000– For more information on Gill’s nursery go to www.lapetitepepiniere.com.
Ali served us a lunch made for Kings – the recipes are on their website: www.gitemimosa.eu/news/themediterraneangardensocietyinsorede.
JANUARY 2011 – TALK ON PESTS, WEEDS & DISEASES AT MARIMURTRA BOTANICAL GARDEN
The Talk on Pests, Weeds & Diseases given by David Bracey was attended by 20 people and proved to be very informative and interesting. David has written an excellent article on his survey and findings. This will be included in the April MGS Journal and is attached separately.
