This weekend saw the inaugural Plant Lovers Fair held at the Kariong Mountains High School near Gosford on the Central Coast of NSW. With my newfound enthusiasm for gardening, I was keen to visit the fair to see what I could find to fill in some of the gaps in my garden. Plant fairs have been held in Europe for a number of years but are a relatively new phenomenon for us here in Sydney. It behoves us keen gardeners to support them in order that the smaller, specialist nurseries can keep going. The large commercial nurseries (with rare exceptions) just don't carry the sorts of plants that many of us crave for our gardens.
At this fair, there were 34 exhibitors, selling plants ranging from maples, Vireya rhododendrons and camellias, to pelargoniums, roses and succulents. There were bulbs, topiary, Australian native plants, fruit trees and even herb and vegetable seedlings. At the Yellow House Heritage Perennials stall, I was pleased to find a number of the old-fashioned perennials that do well in Sydney - such as Erysimum mutabile 'Winter Joy' and Artemisia 'Powis Castle' - which I had lost in my own garden due to neglect over the past couple of years. They also had an excellent collection of Salvia plants.
At Andy's Rare Plants stall, I enjoyed looking at some unusual bulbs and perennial plants. I found a bright pink Lobelia x gerardii to try, as I have had some previous success with perennial Lobelia in an unusually moist part of my garden. I also bought a Trimezia bulb that has a yellow iris-like flower and which seems to be very similar to Neomarica longifolia, which does well in my garden. Andy had flowering pots of the giant aroid plant Amorphophallus konjac, which has a very strong smell (like rotting flesh?) that attracts pollinators, and these was a talking point amongst the crowd.
An important function of fairs like these is the educational aspect of the stalls. I overheard many of the stallholders generously giving lots of advice to customers about the best way to grow various plants being purchased. I also like to look at all the signs relating to plants, as I often find out the names of mystery plants in my garden that way! During my visit, I found the name of an amazing yellow-flowered plant in bloom in my garden at the moment: Bulbine frutescens. It forms a wide clump of fleshy leaves and has dainty spires of yellow starry flowers mainly in spring but also at other times during the year. From a sign attached to one for sale at the fair, I learned that the leaves have a jelly-like juice that can apparently be used for burns, rashes, cracked skin and other dermatological ailments. It is a most obliging plant in the garden, growing in sun or part-shade.
A sign on the Orchid Productions stall informed me of the botanical name of some lovely orchids given to me by a friend last year: Dendrobium nobile. I grow them in the forks of trees and they are flowering now with big clusters of black-eyed blooms.
At the Sydney Rainforest Nursery, I learned that the enormous figs removed from the historic avenue in Hyde Park are to be replaced with specimens of the buttressed native rainforest tree called black booyong (Argyrodendron actinophyllum), supplied by this nursery.
I enjoyed my visit to the fair and hope it will become an annual event. As well as plants, I came home with some new gardening books from Florilegium and some lovely floral cards by Gabby Malpas. All in all, a satisfying day!
I enjoyed it too and hope it will become a regular event. It is nice to have a local event again. I thought it was well run and had some very interesting exhibitors. Bought lots of plants and some books too! Bronwyn. Glad you enjoyed the fair and it is good to have a plant fair located on the Central Coast. I too hope it becomes an annual event. Deirdre
Thanks for the coverage Deirdre and yes, Central Coast Plant Lovers Fair over the weekend was the best range of good garden plants on par with Collectors Plant Fair. Hoping Garden Clubs can support this excellent plant driven event again next year, their volunteers did a superb job & driver Elaine Slade can be very pleased at bringing off a well organised and fiercely attended weekend. Most Stall holders I spoke to VERY happy with their sales & a lot of feverish home gardening resulting. Thanks, Peter. I was certainly pleased with the plants I bought plus the information I"d acquired by looking at all the stalls and their signs on plants, plus talking to the stallholders. The weather was apparently challenging on Saturday but Sunday was a perfect spring day for the event. Deirdre
How do people get news of these events before they happen?I did try to mention this fair in my blogs several times in the lead-up to the event; we had a banner ad with link to the website on our home page and it was listed on our events page. I think there was a fair bit of publicity on the Central Coast for the fair, and some garden clubs, such as the Cottage Garden Club, let their members know about it. Deirdre
Clicked back to your last blog and discovered you had kindly included the information if I had taken time to read it. What a wonderful resource you are. Thank you again for your blog.
I"m so pleased you enjoyed the Kariong plant fair - I was unable to go, but hopefully next year. I agree, fairs like this are important, for not only do they provide the gardener with the opportunity to purchase plants, sometimes unusual, sometimes not, but they provide the grower with an important outlet for their plants, which, hopefully, encouage them extend their endeavours. Thank you for sharing your experience. Thanks, Margaret. I agree with all you have said. Deirdre
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