March Speaker Report

Our speaker this month was Rob Evans of Pheasant Acre Plants, a local nursery based in Llangan. Rob is one of our regular speakers and his talk this month was about alstromerias and dahlias.

The first half of the talk was dedicated to alstromerias and Rob started with a description of these tuberous perennials, which flower from summer through to autumn, backed up with a slide show of varieties, all with distinctive markings on the funnel-shaped, multi-coloured flowers. Heights of the plants vary according to the variety and are good as cut flowers, though Rob advised us that the stems should not be cut, but rather pulled. This encourages the plants to produce new shoots which will flower later.

Following the tea break, Rob moved on to dahlias. These are divided into groups according to the size and type of flower heads and the slide show illustrated examples of each of these groups, with Rob adding more details about the varieties. He advised on how to start dahlia tubers into growth, how to take cuttings and grow them on, when to plant them out, how to care for them when they are in full flower, and how to store the tubers over the winter.

Rob had brought both alstromerias and dahlias for sale and these were snapped up very quickly! The nursery is open to the public where there are many more available to buy, and is well worth a visit.

There was a large turnout for this talk and everyone agreed it was well worth coming. Many thanks to Rob for a very enjoyable and informative evening, and we look forward to welcoming him back at a later date.

Our speaker this month will be Gill Lewis who will be flower arranging for us. Gill has asked that attendees bring some foliage from their gardens which she can use in her arrangements - please bring some with you!