ARS Victoria Newsletter – April 2014

• Date: 10th February 2016

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

Dear members,

My last report was written at the peak of our very hot summer. We did not know then how well, or if, our plants would survive the heat. I lost a lot of plants for which I have been caring for a long time, both at home and on a rural block where I plant the tougher varieties. It is good, however, to report that the gardens at Olinda, and more particularly the plants in our refurbished facilities have come through very well.

The Vireya House is proving an excellent growing environment for almost all the vireya species (145 at the last count) we have planted in it. The plants have settled in well, making very good growth, most are shooting from their bases and thickening up nicely. Each week species very rarely seen are flowering and highlighting how much variation there is in the sub-genus. This week we have flowers from the two extremes, R. konori is at one end of the glasshouse just near the door so you are greeted by its delightful heady scent, while at the other end and extreme, R. perakense is in flower with a tiny truss of tiny flowers. Andrew Rouse has been extraordinarily generous with the material he has supplied for this project and the work he has put into getting things in place. He has spent the last month planting the more delicate or drooping vireyas into hanging baskets and the tiny leaved ones into small holes in the tree fern towers. I can’t help but feel that this glasshouse, as impressive as it is now, will be an amazing sight and resource in a few years time.

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