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Newsletter 99 - April 2019


Report of the Spring Meeting in Utrecht on Sunday March 31, 2019.

A good 30 members of our Contact Group met together once again in the conservatory of the Botanical Gardens on the Harvardlaan in Utrecht. There was coffee, tea and conviviality all round, meeting one another and admiring the many plants brought for the show, for the plant discussion and, last but not least, for the auction to be held.

  

The members' meeting started at 11 a.m. when chairman Eric Gouda welcomed all those present. Piet van Beest, the treasurer, and Roel Tomassen, the secretary, were also there.

  

Figs. 1 en 2 Some snapshots during the meeting, photos Roel Tomassen

  • 1.Announcements.
Eric reported the death of Mr. Hermann Prinsler, formerly a bromeliad grower in Germany and a prominent member of the Deutsche Bromelien Gesellschaft (DBG, the German Bromeliad Society). With this, after the recent death of Mrs. Renate Ehlers, in a short time the DBG loses yet another authority in the bromeliad field. He then announced that the DBG is making preparations to celebrate their 50-year anniversary in 2020. The celebrations are planned for the weekend of September 11 to 13, 2020, in Frankfurt. Further information will certainly follow, also for those BCG members who are DBG members too. Finally, Eric noted that the Utrecht University server, which also hosts our BCG site, was temporarily offline for maintenance related to the privacy regulations. This was expected to take several days.
  • 2. Finances.
The treasurer announced that the financial report for 2018 had been sent to the members. There were no questions or comments about this from the members.
  • 3. Audit Committee Report for 2018
Hans Willems and Gerard van Kooten stated that they found the financial administration for 2018 in perfect order and suggested that the members should clear the Board, as was done with complete general agreement and thanks to the treasurer.
  • 4. Composition of Audit Committee for 2019.
Gerard van Kooten and Gerard van Heusden will constitute the committee for 2019.
  • 5. Report on the Autumn Meeting on September 30, 2018.
The report was approved unchanged.
  • 6. Looking back at the visit to the Ibes commercial nursery in Huissen on 16 March, 2019.
A good 20 participants (members and their guests) took part in the visit to this nursery. Everyone admired the great collection of Tillandsias, both for the wide diversity of species as for the quality of the plants. People didn't only look everywhere, they also bought! With thanks to the Ibes family for their friendly hospitality, we can look back on a successful visit, as was described, with photos, in Newsletter 98.

 

Fig. 3 The auction of the plants that were brought, photo Roel Tomassen

  • 7. Open Day at Albert Ebbink in Haaksbergen.
Albert will open up his conservatory for visits on Saturday, 8 June, 2019 from 10 a.m. on. Those interested are requested to register with Albert in advance, either by email at al.ebbink@kpnmail.nl or by phone on 053 5740709.
  • 8. Further group activities
There was a discussion about the possibilities for a group excursion, as took place several times in the past. These included visits to various botanical gardens in the Netherlands and Belgium, as well as to nurseries. Suggestions were made concerning Frankfurt, possibly at the time of the DBG's 50th anniversary celebrations in September (see point 1), the Floralia exhibition in Ghent in May, the National Botanic Garden in Meise, Belgium, (where we went once before). Earlier there was an idea from Gerard van Heusden about visiting the Botanical Gardens in Heidelberg where, just as in Frankfurt (Palmgarten), there is a large collection of bromeliads to visit. Gerard offered to help with any potential plans (excursion committee?). The treasurer also pointed out that the Group can certainly afford something for such an occasion. The Board suggested that all ideas and comments should be examined and discussed and that there would then be feedback to the members.
  • 9. Other business and closure
Jasper van den Driesche asked for assistance with looking after and promoting our BCG site on Facebook. Those interested should contact Jasper for more information.

Albert Ebbink asked again about the possibility of obtaining new pesticides for bromeliads. The chairman and Peter Bak both said that at present there are no new substances that may be used by consumers.

 

Figs. 4 t/m 6 Tillandsia rubroviolacea , an unusual species, see Plant discussion, photos Eric Gouda

 

This ended the meeting and chairman Eric moved on to discussing several plants brought by members as well as some plants from the Botanical Gardens collection.

Plant discussion

Tillandsia marnier-lapostollei; a specimen collected by Eric in Ecuador in 1988. The plant is monocarpic, that is to say it dies after flowering so no new offsets develop at the base. In addition it suddenly showed rot in the heart. After cleaning and disinfection of the heart it again had rot at the base. Enough to make you despair. A second round of cleaning and disinfection was followed by placing the plant separately to dry, after which, as Eric showed, offsets were formed at the base after all. Don't give up too quickly in that sort of situation!

A large bromeliad was displayed, according to Peter Bak it was called Alcantharea roberto-kautskyi.

The gorgeous, flowering Orthophytum burle-marxii, was from Ed Brinkkemper, who called it a hassle-free plant but one that takes a long time to make offsets.

Flowering Aechmea pectinata, Tillandsia rubroviolacea(a little-known species from Loja and Azuay, Ecuador) and Racinaea decipiens var. tomensis (also from Ecuador but from Peru too) were then reviewed.

Gerard van Heusden had made two long 'branches' (from small ceramic pipes) planted with Neoregelias and Tillandsias growing as epiphytes. Very attractive to see. The plant discussion finished by looking at the following Tillandsias: T. caulescens, T. paleacea subsp. apurimacensis (a subspecies from Peru described by Walter Till), T. secundifolia, T. rodrigueziana (a smaller species), T. fuchsii (species from Mexico), T. albertiana (a planted rope from Gerard van Heusden). According to Peter Bak, the Guzmania lingulata Roel Tomassen showed was not a pure lingulata but a hybrid. The plant was forming its inflorescence,

 

During lunch there was an auction of the many plants and cuttings brought by the Fa. Bak company and by various members. Those present were not shy in their attempts to acquire the plants and cuttings they coveted, which was of course very nice for the BCG's till, which rang up many times!

 

Fig. 7 t/m 9 Racinaea decipiens var. tomensis freom Peru, see Plant discussion, photos Eric Gouda

 

Afternoon programme - a Brazilian journey

After lunch, everyone moved to the lecture room to enjoy the adventurous trip the couple, Eric and Renate Gouda, made through Brazil in 2017. They trekked from Rio Grande do Sul as far as Pernambuco. Renate recounted this wonderful journey during which they visited various bromeliad nurseries and gorgeous botanical gardens. They could enjoy the heart-warming hospitality offered. Renate showed beautiful recordings of the flora and fauna and, of course, of the many bromeliads there in their natural habitats.

 

Their return from this trip to Rio di Janeiro, on the famous beach of Copacabana, ended this journey and so also ours, as members, this afternoon. Roel thanked Renate on everyone. behalf for the exciting travel story and gave her a tasteful gift. Along with Renate he also included Eric in his thanks for their dedication in preparing the meetings, coffee, lunch and so on, here in the conservatory of the Botanical Gardens.

 

Fig. 10 t/m 11 Tillandsia paleacea subsp. apurimacensis from Peru, see Plant discussion, photos Eric Gouda

 

Eric closed the get-together with thanks for the appreciation shown and wished everyone a good journey home.

 

On behalf of the Board,

Roel Tomassen, secretary, text.
Eric Gouda, chairman, layout.

 

P.s. Perhaps in future newsletters we could also show some pictures from the lecture, so if you give a lecture please provide some photos.


Bijgewerkt: 2019-10-17, 1973 keer bekeken

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