Birmingham Branch collections open day July 17th 2011

[AntonyC]

Would like to say a big thanks to the guys and gal who opened their greenhouses to us today. I know i enjoyed seeing some fantastic collections and my nephew sure did too. Hospitality was second to none and we were made to feel very welcome at all locations.
Once again thanks for an enjoyable day.

Ant

[Cactus Jack]

Photo's anyone ??

[Liz M]

I thought I would venture from Cheshire along to the Birmingham branch open day. It was a clear crisp day and I had all the maps and set off. After a slow meander along the A34 I finally reached Derek Castle's collection and had a jolly good browse, a cup of tea and cake and came away with a few nice plants. Next I got to Stuart's and as he promised he had his second greenhouse up and running. It was still blazing hot and here are a few shots of his Opuntias and the interior of his two greenhouses.

This is one of the woody Opuntias

[Liz M]

This is another one.

A very choice one but I forget it's name unfortunately

[Liz M]

A forest of Leuchtenbergii principis

[Liz M]

Lastly a few of the many seedlings growing.

I don't know where he is going to fit them all in, there is plenty of space at the moment but we know how long space lasts.

[Liz M]

Next I made my way to Gill's collection. All I can say is Google maps are not all they are cracked up to be. However after an unneeded tour of SW Birmingham I got to see Gills collection. There were two greenhouses her husbands( with a few of Gill's plants squeezed in) and hers with lots of plants crammed in. A very good variety and I came away clutching a programme for the show in Birmingham Botanic Gardens and expressed a hope to get there. Finally after a long detour, I got to Arthur's unscathed and found some outstanding and wonderful old plants there, some very nice Copiapoas and an enormous Echinocactus grusonii that he had acquired from someone, which had been sadly neglected and on watering it it revealed itself to be damaged in the centre. Undaunted it had carried on growing with a about ten heads and has been growing to an impressive size ever since.
I great big thank you to all of you who had opened up your greenhouses and a shining example of what groups should do. Thank you also for your hospitality and the opportunity to nose about in other peoples' collections.

[Stuart Estell]

Thread updated with this year's details (2011)!

Do let us know if you can come. Lots of changes in my collection since last year.

[Stuart Estell]

A quick reminder that our open day is this Sunday - it'd be lovely to see anyone who fancies making the trip!

[Tony R]

Sorry I can't make it this time (two trips to Birmingham in 3 days would be too much!) but I look forward to seeing many of you at my talk to Birmingham branch on this Tuesday.