BCSS Macclesfield & East Cheshire Branch

Newsletter September 2006 - Chairman’s chat

Hi folks, it's me again.

Time comes around so quickly, I can't believe it is September already. What a fantastic summer we have had. It was so hot in my conservatory that I had to move Chucky parrot into the living room. You wouldn't think it could be too hot in England for an African Grey parrot! My plants seemed to have enjoyed it though. My frangipani tree is coming on nicely - yes I know I will not be around to see it get big enough to flower - but it is kind of satisfying to watch it thrive. It is promising to be another beautiful day, the sky is so clear and blue, but there is also a huge golden full moon still shining, I have to add that it is very unusual for me to be up so early — don't know what I am missing do I ? I don't have many plants flowering at the moment, probably because I always seem to pick the ones that don't flower, or those that take forever to. I don't mind. I enjoy the ones I have. My Jatropha still has one flower on, and I have a couple of oddments that have flowered for the first time for me. I will have to look them up in one of our excellent library books. My Pachypodium baronii has finished flowering and as usual is sprouting new leaves where the flowers were. My Testudinaria elephantipes is in leaf - is this early?

We had to empty the greenhouse last week of overgrown tomato plants. It was getting a bit like a rainforest and I kept losing tortoises in there! There were such a lot of slugs and snails under the pots, so they had to be cleared out too. I have a fig tree just by the greenhouse and for the second year have picked some ripe figs off for Julia. They have taken longer to ripen this year, probably because of the early dry spell.

I am sorry that I shall be missing the September meeting, especially as I have been told it will be about succulents, but I shall be in Jersey, so am hoping to see some nice plants there. See you in October.

Christine Foye