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Past, present and future meetings

The next meeting is the Spring 2025 meeting.

Meeting dates

The Southern African Bulb group has held or will hold meetings on the following dates:

Date Location Topic Report in Newsletter
4 April 2004 Terry & Jennifer Smale’s, Epsom Inaugural meeting, including discussion of “Acclimatisation of Southern African bulbs:  transferring South African geophytes to the Northern Hemisphere growth cycle 1
23 October 2004 David & Pat Victor’s, Leighton Buzzard 2
9 April 2005 “The Bulb Nursery”, Gatton Park, near Reigate Group visit to Robert Bowlby’s nursery 4
? Autumn 2005 ? ? Was there a meeting in Autumn 2005?
12 March 2006 Crawley Bill Squire on South African bulbs, David Victor on Oxalis, etc. 6
1 October 2006 Corfe Mullen Jonathan Hutchinson on the Eastern Cape and Veltheimia, Terry Smale on his cultural procedures, etc. 6
25 March 2007 Crawley David Victor’s “Report of the 2006 IBSA Symposium and Field Trip”, Disussion led by Terry Smale on seed production 9
23 September 2007 Corfe Mullen Mike Salmon on “Bulbs of North Africa 10
18 May 2008 Winchester Rod Saunders on Brunsvigias with questions and answers on various topics; Rachel Saunders on their seed-collecting experiences; Terry Smale on cultural requirements of plants from Mediterranean climates 36
26 October 2008 Winchester Jonathan Hutchinson on Scadoxus 13
22 March 2009 Winchester Brian Mathew on “South African Bulbs and Curtis’s Botanical  Magazine” and David Victor on “Bulbs in the Eastern Cape 14
18 October 2009 Winchester Paul Cumbleton, Supervisor of the Alpine Department at RHS Wisley, on “A Growing Addiction: Bulbs from The Winter Rainfall Areas” and Bill Squire on “Construction of troughs from various materials and methods of construction 15
28 March 2010 Winchester John Grimshaw on “Bulbs of the African Mountains” and Jonathan Hutchinson on “A trip to Ethiopia to see Scadoxus nutans in habitat” [or “My Trip to Ethiopia in search of Scadoxus nutans”] 
20 June 2010 Exbury Gardens Cameron McMaster 16
17 October 2010 Winchester Kit Strange
27 March 2011 Winchester Kurt Vickery on his visits to Central Asia and species tulips
23 October 2011 Winchester Bill Squire on “Growing South African Bulbs in Southern England”, David Victor on “Xerophytic and Tuberous Pelargonium
11 March 2012 Winchester Bob Charman on “Fritillaria”, Bill Squire on his 2011 visit to Namaqualand
21 October 2012 Winchester Jack Gingell on “South Africa: the Eastern Cape in February 2010
7 April 2013 Winchester Jon Evans on “Taking Better Pictures of Flowers
6 October 2013 Winchester Bill Squire & David Victor on “A Trip to South Africa 2013” and others including Kath Baker on “Some flowers of the Southernmost Tip of Africa (September 2013)” (Cape of Good Hope, Cape Agulhas etc.)
23 March 2014 Winchester Paul Cumbleton on compost mixes and pot drainage
12 October 2014 Winchester John David, Chief Scientist of the Royal Horticultural Society, on why DNA is so important these days in the classification and naming of organisms, and how it challenges us to re-think reliable characters for differentiation of species and genera and look for new features
29 March 2015 Winchester Bill Squire, on his recent visit to South Africa
4 October 2015 Winchester Julian Sutton, Desirable Plants nursery in Totnes, on “Pollination in South African Geophytes
17 April 2016 Winchester Jonathan Hutchinson, Team Leader at RHS Rosemoor, on “Plant explorations of Ethiopia’s Afromontane Forests
23 October 2016 Winchester Nick Wray, curator of Bristol University Botanic Garden, on “Distribution of bulbous plants in the Western Cape 34
2 April 2017 Winchester Bob Charman on his trip to Patagonia
8 October 2017 Winchester Jeremy Spon on “The Iridaceae of South Africa
8 April 2018 Winchester George Elder on “Winter-growing bulbs in cultivation and in the wild 37, 38
7 October 2018 Winchester Paul Cumbleton on “Growing and propagating South African winter-growing bulbs 40
7 April 2019 Winchester Kit Strange from Kew on “A demonstration of how bulbs are grown at Kew
6 October 2019 Winchester Christine Skelmersdale on “The summer flowering bulbs of the Drakensberg Mountains, S Africa” and Jon Evans on “South African bulbs from the AGS shows (part one)
29 March 2020 (cancelled) Farnham Chris Birchall, Tale Valley Nursery, on “Rhodohypoxis - Growing, Showing and Natural Environs
11 October 2020 (cancelled) Winchester James Hitchmough would have given two talks
28 March 2021 (online) Online using Zoom Virtual meeting at 1:30 for 2pm using the Zoom online video-conferencing software. Jon Evans showed the second part of his talk on “Plants seen at AGS shows” at 2pm.
(Jon gave us the first part of his talk at our last physical meeting on 6 October 2019 in Winchester.)
17 April 2022 Winchester Jon Evans on “Autumn at Kew” and Richard White on “IBSA Symposium, Worcester and Middelpos: Bulbs & Succulents in the Roggeveld & Knersvlakte
23 October 2022 Winchester Jonathan Hutchinson on “Zimbabwe”; Paul Cumbleton: part 1 of his series on “Sorting out the Massonias”,
2 April 2023 Winchester Paul Lewis on his work breeding hardy Gladiolus hybrids, Paul Cumbleton: part 2 of his series on “Sorting out the Massonias”, and Rodney Sims will show a 40-minute video “Wildflower Extravaganza”, with scenes of South African flowers with named species
22 October 2023 Winchester Val Bourne on “Plant Passions at Spring Cottage” – a general talk about her garden including the use of South African plants such as Crocosmias etc.; Jon Evans on South African bulbs grown at Keith Wiley’s Wildside Garden in Devon, Paul Cumbleton’s part 3 of his series of short talks on “Sorting out the Massonias”,
24 March 2024 Winchester Timothy Walker on “From Diaz to Diamonds - Plant Hunting in South Africa”. “The western Cape region of South Africa is one of the most botanically diverse areas of the World. This talk takes a route from the southernmost tip of Africa to the border with Namibia looking at the plants and the ethnobotany of one of the most fascinating countries in the World.” After lunch Paul Cumbleton gave part 4 of his series of short talks on “Sorting out the Massonias”,
20 October 2024 Winchester Alex Summers, who was until recently the curator of the National Botanic Garden of Wales, now working in a National Trust garden, will give a talk (title to be agreed). The NBGW has a large section devoted to plants from regions with a Mediterranean climate, including a collection of South African bulbs.
Spring 2025 (next meeting) (to be announced) Winchester (to be announced)

[Copyright © 2024 by the Southern African Bulb Group and Richard White.]

meetings/list.txt · Last modified: 21:51 23/10/2024 by Richard White