Professor Len Newton will talk about "A Succulentist at large in Africa" on March 26th at the Library in Albufeira, starting at 10am. He was Prof of Botany at Ghana University, then at Kenyatta University in Kenya until retirement. His passion for succulents took him all over Africa, so this should be an amusing as well as informative talk.
Dr Keith Bensusan, Director of the Gibraltar Botanic Garden, will introduce Professor Newton and give a short talk on the succulent collection of the late John Lavranos, which was given to the Garden. John was the world´s foremost expert on Aloes and other species, so his collection was of great botanical interest as well as beauty.
For directions and information please contact elspeth.a.h.flood@gmail.com or on 925 678 951. A donation of €5 would be appreciated.
The Tenth Anniversary event for the annual autumn garden fair took place on Saturday October 27 in Sao Bras and celebrated the start of the gardening year. We were fortunate to have a dry sunny day following the first few rainy days of the autumn, encouraging everyone to get busy in the garden again.
Despite the run up to this years Spring Garden Fair being dogged by much needed heavy rain, not so welcome howling winds and even a mini tornado across the Algarve, the event went ahead as planned. On the day the rain held off until early afternoon, giving the 350 or so visitors the chance to buy from small nurseries and growers offering a wide variety of plants, shrubs and trees for sale. Some visitors, we learned, had travelled long distances to take advantage of the unique opportunity to buy from the specialist nurseries gathered together for the day.
Renowned landscape gardener Steve Townson, of Green Fingers’ fame, has launched a bespoke garden consultancy based on over 30 years’ experience designing, landscaping and maintaining some of the most prestigious gardens in the Algarve.
The Mediterranean Garden Fair held in São Bras de Alportel on Saturday October 28 was the most successful yet and attracted 1800 visitors, a record breaking attendance for the event in its eighth year. This is a wonderful response and we would like to thank everyone who supported our exhibitors and speakers.
November is the time to finish off all the autumn projects, such as planting and clearing out. If the expected rains arrive, they will provide a bit of a natural clean-up but you should be prepared by having tidied up old beds.
This month, like March, is a pivotal month for refocusing, this time on winter. The more effort extended now should equal less work later. The idea of autumn planting is to beat the major winter rains so that roots establish over winter while benefiting from soil still warm.
