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CONGRATULATIONS

To our Secretary, Gillian Boyd, of Aeron Acers, who won a Gold at the Smallholder Show at Builth Wells, on her first attempt. Well done Gilly! A photo can be seen here soon!

PLANT FAIRS 2011

Sunday 1 May 10.00-4.00 West Wales Plant Fair at Rhos-y-Gilwen Mansion. 15 nurseries and sundries sellers. Garden open, light refreshments in the new Orangerie. Not to be missed. Entry £2.00 per person (children under 16 free, free parking and free entry to the garden, plant creche and plant tombola) Run by the Hardy Plant Society West Wales Group.






Monday 2 May CGA Plant Fair at Cae Hir Gardens. Following on from last year's great day out, Cae Hir Gardens will again host a Spring Plant Fair. More details to follow.

Sunday and Monday 29-30 May Aberaeron Garden and Craft Festival on Alban Fields. Building on last year's event which was a great success, the CGA bring together the best plants and garden crafts in the region. Free entry and children's entertainment. Come and enjoy the Bank Holiday! More details to follow.

Sunday 19 June pm CGA Plant Fair in association with the NGS Open Day at Llanllyr Garden. Our third year at this event and just right for your summer flowering plants! Entry to the Plant Fair is free but normal NGS rates apply to enter the garden.

Autumn came twice this year for us with a visit to the Southern States of America to see friends.  A little suburb to the west of Atlanta, called Decatur was a great surprise owing to the ‘Urban Forestry Program’ planting a selection of small to medium trees with good anti-pollution, shade, and aesthetic value throughout the city and its suburbs.  Groups of the sugar maple Acer saccharum and the florida maple, Acer barbatum, trees of some 20ft+, were ablaze with rounded canopies of large, broad golden/orange leaves.  They were growing in our hotel car park, adjacent office buildings and grassy areas in between. These two maples are thought to have hybridized at some point and are therefore very difficult to identify.  They are popular street trees not only because they provide a good deal of shade but because they are resistant to leaf scorch in very hot summer conditions.  Also popular as urban trees because of their dome shaped canopies and reliable autumn colouring were the red maples Acer rubrum, and several cultivars were used especially ‘red sunset’ a smaller and more recent cultivar.  Acer freemanii ‘autumn blaze’ which is a cross between Acer rubrum, and the silver maple, Acer saccharinum was very distinctive, but although their fall colours were not as brilliant they were no less attractive as their leaves turned red to green from the top down and remained in pristine condition.  What a beautiful sight they all were, a wonderful mix of reds, crimsons, and oranges along the streets and avenues. 

Gingko biloba was also used comprehensively reaching heights of 25ft or more!  Whilst some had kept their bright yellow leaves others had shed them leaving crispy, yellow carpets on the pavements. Unfortunately though, men in yellow coats were mechanically blowing them into large heaps to dispose of in lorries!   The black tupelo Nyssa sylvatica, shaped I thought like a beech, can grow 30-60ft and is an ideal urban shade tree and  foliage was a mass of shiny red, orange, purple  leaves.  Unfortunately I could not identify all of the Southern oaks, there were so many  -  white, willow, post, scarlet,  red, pin ......their contribution however was equally important.  Of all the large shrub/trees the crepe myrtle, Lagerstroemia indica impressed me the most, growing throughout the states we visited. This beautiful multi-stemmed tree has pink or lilac blossoms in spring and flowers for months I am told before turning red/orange in the fall.  The bark is just as interesting, very smooth and a multicoloured grey/pink, hence it’s common name the ‘’cuddle tree’’!

A day of rest on the Sunday took us to Stone Mountain Park, Georgia, the world’s largest exposed piece of granite, surrounded by a park, nature trails, walks and landscaped gardens.  One in particular was Japanese in style with large boulders and several Acer dissectums, which I guessed were around 50 years old!  I have never seen such thick, gnarled, intertwined branches, almost black and probably 6’’ in diameter, with a 12’ wide canopy of brilliant red dissected leaves.

We drove 200miles west into Alabama where the landscape changed to one incorporating many types of Southern Pine.  The road swept into the distance dividing the swamp and defining the feel of the area.  The two most important indigenous species that form these deep water swamp forests are the tupelo’s, water tupelo Nyssa aquatica and swamp tupelo Nyssa biflora which turn a brilliant orange through to purple in the fall.  The other is the bald cypress Taxodium distichum.  This deciduous conifer was in fact introduced to Great Britain in 1640 by the famous plant hunter John Tradescant the Younger.  Where the roots are submerged in water they sprout roots above ground known as ‘knees’, and they can grow up to 3 metres!   Before the soft needles fall they turn a magnificent red.   Others trees and shrubs included the swamp cottonwood, Salix nigra, water ash Fraxinus caroliniana, and swamp chestnut oak, Quercus michauxii.  The sweet gum, Liquidambar styraciflua thrives alongside the swamps showing it’s multicoloured fall changes through the red spectrum to purple, as does the tulip tree Liriodendron tulipefera, which turns yellow in autumn and both seed themselves creating a mini forest of seedlings beneath their parents.   In between are the dwarf palmetto’s, Sabal minor, which seem strange in such wet places, but this very useful small palm provides robin’s and raccoons with 10% - 20% of their diet and the native Indians used it’s leaves to braid make lashings, or make baskets from.  The slash pine, Pinus elliottii, is a common sight growing to 90ft and dominates the skyline above the undergrowth.  It is named after the ‘’slashes’’ – a swampy ground overgrown with trees and bushes.  This valuable southern pine is used for reforestation projects and timber plantations. Another important pine is Pinus glabra which grows along the edges of the road, along with Rhus glabra which looked especially good in its autumn clothing.  Surprisingly the whole effect was one of autumn fall colour but with a strange twist, as dead, grey, tree branches rose from out of the swamp and spanish moss Tillandsia usnedides, dripped in long tresses from the branches of the bald cypress.  This flat watery landscape merged with the sky, far into the distance but close to, life below the water hid cotton mouths, copperheads and alligators.   Alabama has the largest number of reptile species in the whole of the southern states.

Entering the very pleasant outskirts of Montgomery, Alabama urban forestry planting was in evidence again.   Magnolias, pines, dogwood, crepe myrtles, American hornbeam or ironwood, Carpinus caroliniarna, another important shade tree used for its orange/red fall colours, were all abundant, as were the eastern redbuds Cercis Canadensis and although not an attractive autumn tree, it was conspicuous by long brown seedpods hanging into the early winter. The chinese pistache Pistacia chinensis is a long lived, pest free tree with outstanding heat, drought and soil tolerance properties.  Used in urban plantings because of its reliable autumn colouring and spectacular canopy of reddish/orange to yellow pinnate leaves, it also serves well as a shade tree.  It is a native from Western China and has a leaf similar to a sumac.  There are various studies being carried out on ‘urban tree canopies’ (shade trees) which could help with reducing energy bills, as they keep the air cooler  if planted around houses, lower pollution levels and help retain storm water.  Walking around the neighbourhood, certain plants caught my eye, namely the Callicarpa americana, laden with large lilac berries. Salvia coccinea, Cannas, Rosemary, Abelia grandiflora, Ruellia brittoniarna, Hibiscus, the madagascar periwinkle, Catharanthus roseus, and Datura were all in full flower.   Fluffy headed Pennisetums, Coleus, Cyperus and giant elephant ears Alocasia, truly architectural plants were in common use along with Nandina domestica that apparently grows like a weed escaping to the roadside whenever it can, but always looking robust and healthy!  Oh and don’t forget the Hydrangea quercifolia another important plant that thrived there and looked wonderful in the shade.  There were many Acer palmatum varieties and Acer dissectums, growing as specimen plants and occasionally a large banana tree could be spotted.  Box topiary seems to be as popular in ordinary gardens over there as it is here, but was also used very decoratively outside small commercial buildings as well.  Whilst gently swinging on the verandah after our walk, we watched mocking birds fighting in the crepe myrtle, a red bellied woodpecker climbing a telegraph pole, and a cardinal feeding under a giant magnolia!

Alabama has a warm climate all year and has therefore been invaded by several foreign species.  A vine called ‘kudzu’, a native to Asia was introduced into the southern states in the late 19th century by the Japanese who brought it over on a garden stand at a festival.  Once noticed by southern gardeners for its attractive foliage and pretty flowers, it was used as an ornamental vine in their gardens with the added bonus of fragrant flowers and providing much needed shade.  But its real takeover began in the l930’s when in response to soil erosion in the ‘dust bowl era’ the government sent millions of kudzu seedlings to the southern states to halt the loss of topsoil.  It now covers a quarter of a million acres in Alabama and watching it devour every wall or derelict piece of land alongside the road from the car, the evidence was clear to see.  Not surprisingly it is popularly known as “the vine that ate the south’’! 

Another invasive introduction lit up the whole forest in patches of lovely bright orange, this time a tree from China brought over in the 1700’s and unfortunately again had become a nuisance spreading throughout the southern states.  They call it the popcorn tree Sapium sebiferum, because it bears small catkins followed by half inch capsules that split open revealing waxy seeds that resemble popcorn kernels.  They remain attached to the tree all winter and are eventually eaten by birds and thus spread further afield!  It is quick growing and reaches 35-40ft, and thrives in the bottomlands, marshy areas and swamps. The Chinese used them for making candles and soap.

The next morning was warm and sunny so we rode a streetcar to the Garden District of New Orleans, built in the 1840’s, where the large southern style houses painted in colourful pastel shades and decorated with ornate lace ironwork surrounded themselves with immaculately manicured gardens.  Bamboos, numerous palms, Yaupon and Savannah hollies and large clumps of Miscanthus sinensis created height and structure with camellias (just coming into bloom), Plumbago auriculata, the bird of paradise,  Strelitzia regina,  the angel trumpet, Bignonia radicans, and Hibiscus, providing colour.  Bourgainvillea rambled over wooden fences as did Lantana camara which has become naturalized in the warm regions of the world, and on this particular day was host to a monarch butterfly hovering in and out of its flowers! Pretty little flowers sprawled over the pavements sneaking through the iron railings and everywhere there was colour and luxuriance. 

It was back to Alabama for a couple of days, after the experience of New Orleans, a feast of good food, jazz and warm weather and although I can only describe all the wonderful plants I encountered during November, which cannot do them justice, I hope with the help of a few pictures, a little flavour of the southern flora has been of some interest.  Perhaps if I am lucky, another trip will come my way and enable me to explore more exciting plants in different seasonal attire.

by Gillian Boyd, Aeron Acers.


Chronological History of Ceredigion Growers Association/Hanes Cronolegol o Gymdeithas Tyfwyr Ceredigion

30 September / 30fed o Fedi 2008
Bilingual Plant Trail and Nursery Guide for Ceredigion produced and distributed. / Callaw Llwybr Planhigion Dwyieithog a Meithrinfeydd Planhigion: cael ei gynhyrchu a dosbarthu.

30 August 2008 / 30fed o Awst 2008
CGA website launched. / Lansio gwefan CTC.

15 June 2008 / 15fed o Fehefin 2008
First CGA Plant Fair at Llanllyr House, Talsarn. Over £2,000 donated to the National Garden Scheme. / Ffair planhigion yn Nhy Llanllyr, Talsarn. Rhoddir dros £2,000 i Gynllun y Gerddi Cenedlaethol.

17-18 May 2008 / 17-18 0 Fai 2008
CGA launches at the Smallholder and Garden Festival, Builth Wells. /  Lansio'r CTC yng Ngŵyl y Tyddynwyr a'r Gerddi, Builth Wells.

2 April 2008 / 2ail o Ebill
Inaugural meeting of Ceredigion Growers Association. Adoption of a constitution and election of a committee. / Cyfarfod agoriadol CTC Mabwysiadu'r Cyfansoddiad a ethol Pwyllgor.