From the rainforest to your living room, Nick Dobson May's meeting

 In May we had one of our popular speakers, Nick Dobson, return to give us not one but two presentations on garden topics.

 The first was titled From the rainforest to your living room. This was a talk all about plants that grow in the rainforests around the world, mainly the Amazon (in South America) and the Daintree (in Australia), but have now become popular as house plants in the UK where our climate generally does not provide suitable conditions for the plants to grow outside.

The Amazon rainforest got its name from the Amazonian tribe people. Some plants, which we would recognize from the Amazon, are the Rubber tree, which is used in hundreds of everyday products and Bromeliads, which produce bright flowers and are part of the pineapple family. Some bromeliads are also carnivorous (which means they eat meat (usually flies). Also the Passion Flower, which we can grow outside but requires moist soil, the Bougainvillea, which has mases of bright flowers and can go outside in the summer but must be brought into a heated greenhouse or conservatory for the winter, and Begonias, which are both house plants and used for summer bedding.

From the Daintree Tropical rainforest, we have such plants as the Phalaenopsis Orchid, which we grow as a popular houseplant and will flower for months if looked after well. It lives on trees, which is why when you get one it is not in soil but in bark chips. They need good light levels and an east or west-facing windowsill. There is the Idiot Fruit Tree (aka Dinosaur tree), which was thought to have died out but rediscovered in the Queensland Forest. These still contain original properties from the Dinosaur age, and tree ferns, which also date back to the dinosaur times.

 Our second talk was Through The Seasons and gave us some useful tips on growing plants in our gardens starting with early shrubs, followed by spring bulbs and then into summer bedding. The Petunia is related to the tobacco plant. When Alstroemerias have flowered, pull out the flowering stem rather than cutting it off as this promotes them to make more flower stems. Plant Gladioli 8 inches deep, as this will provide more support and require less staking. Don’t deadhead Canna Lilies as new flowers come from the dead flower.

 Bromeiads, 2nd/4th Pic. 4 x Orchids and Bougainvillea.