Fremantlebiz - Paul's Letter from Australia

Garden weaklings

My wife and I like to visit plant nurseries. We live in eternal hope of finding something new and exciting. More often than not we are disappointed. All of the nurseries we know of within striking distance have become pretty boring, and are tending towards needing a good overhaul. They don't seem to be run by people who are actually interested in plants and horticulture.

We didn't go to the Garden Week show/display last week. Paying twenty bucks to look at lawnmower displays and old codgers explaining how to prune roses has lost it appeal. In the good old days it used to be that public entry to Garden Week was free, and plant exhibitors could actually afford to put up a decent display. Those days are gone for ever.

I used to once be in the plant game and I knew a few nurserymen. They gave up on Garden Week too. Too much trouble, and expense.

A lot of the good nurseries we knew are also gone. Their excellence depended on the dedication of the owners. As they grew old and their semi-rural properties became extraordinarily valuable. Urban developers made them offers they couldn't refuse and that was that.

Going back 20 to 30 years ago we knew of some exceptionally knowlegable backyarders who specialised in particular types of plants. The offered hundreds of different varieties for sale. I've forgotten most of the names of these people.

One name I do recall was Vince the Italian fuschia man. He lived nearby in Preston Point Road and his backyard was a fuschia lovers paradise. Thousands of them were displayed in hanging baskets and pots. He called them "da fusche" which is what we now say in his memory everytime we see one.

Out Cannington way there was a backyard bromeliad specialist and a nearby cactus man. You wouldn't believe how many different types there were of each genera - hundreds, maybe thousands of varieties. There was another cactus man in South Perth with just as large a range. The cactus men grew most of their tremendously varied range from imported seed.

Near Canning Bridge there was a Hawaiian hibiscus lady, while out near Kelmscot was an African violet specialist. Ferns, orchids, palms, coleus, geraniums, gerberas, begonias, camelias and cycads all had their individual backyard specialists too. We visited them all at one time or another.

Visitors to these extraordinary backyard operations were usually encouraged by a hand written sign on the front fence, or by the occasional classified ad in a newspaper. Now all of them are no more. A great regret is I never photographed any of these dedicated people amidst their horticultural treasures.

What a difference it is nowadays with the commercial nurseries. There's little, if any dedicated knowledge. For example, at Bunnings and BigW everything comes from wholesalers. If you could find more than one or two varieties of any of the above mentioned plant types in these retail operations you'd be very lucky. I think most wholesalers in this state now only produce stuff that's relatively easy to propagate, fast to grow and can withstand a degree of rough handling by staff and unaware customers.

Anyway I'll finish off this morning with a photo of something special which is in bloom in our garden at the moment. It's our faithful old friend the southern African bulb Haemanthus cocinea, the so called 'elephant ear' for its large leaves which will emerge over the next few weeks and reach to the ground.

© MMVIII Paul R. Weaver.

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Check out each month's subject index on the Calendar Page for my "common-man" monologues about survival in 21st century Australia – plus a little history occasionally. An original essay is added most days as part of an undertaking to write at least couple of million words. Zzzzzzzz!