Meeting:

November 10, 2005, at the Huntington Botanical Center

Guest Presenter:

Kathy Musial

Topic:

Plants of South Africa: Namaqualand and the Western Cape

Southern Africa has long been a source of ornamental plants for southern California, Clivia, Agapanthus and Strelitzia immediately coming to mind. The Cape region of South Africa has the distinction of being in its own floral kingdom and is the smallest among six worldwide. The Western Cape Province is one of the five Mediterreanean climate regions of the world, potentially offering suitable plants for growing in southern California. The drier Namaqualand region to the north has spectacular spring displays of annual wildflowers following good winter rains, much like our own deserts. This program will illustrate the recent Pacific Horticulture tour of Namaqualand and the Western Cape on which Kathy was a participant.

Kathy Musial has worked at the Huntington Botanical Gardens for 23 years, where she is Collections Manager and Curator of Living Collections.  She has travelled widely to study plants, including to Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Japan, China, and Taiwan.  Despite having grown South African plants for much of her career, she has not had an opportunity to travel there until this year. Kathy is a board member of the Southern California Horticultural Society and the Pacific Horticultural Foundation (publisher of Pacific Horticulture) and was a founding board member of the San Diego Horticultural Society.

The November raffle was supplied by Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden.

SCHS Book of the Month

Our November selection is a must-have for bulb and flower-gardeners! The Color Encyclopedia of Cape Bulbs by John C. Manning, Peter Goldblatt and Dee Snijman (Timber Press 2004) details nearly 1200 bulbous plants from the Cape Region of South Africa (one of the world’s five Mediterranean climates) – familiar and rare bulbs that will thrive and naturalize in our mild-winter gardens. This glorious reference includes hundreds of color photos. Price to SCHS Members: $45.00 (tax included). Regular cover price for non-members: $59.95 plus tax. Another good reason to join the Society! A limited number will be available. To reserve a copy, email Lili Singer.