The communiqué from Italy was startling. Nick Stodel, 36, managing director of Stodels Nurseries and current president of the SA Nursery Association (Sana), was elected president of the International Garden Centre Association (IGCA) at its 53rd Annual IGCA Congress, held this week in South Tyrol and Lake Garda, Italy.
The simplicity of the announcement did not fully explain how important the appointment is for local gardeners.
Stodel was born in Cape Town, educated at Bishops, is a commerce graduate from the University of Stellenbosch, and a Newlands resident.
And this week he became the first person from the southern hemisphere to be elected as a president of the IGCA.
With a full-time administration that has recently moved from Switzerland to Canada, the IGCA represents the interests of national garden centre associations worldwide.
The implication is that Cape Town garden centres now have access to the cutting edge of international garden centre trends and innovation across Europe, the US and Asia.
“Getting ideas from around the world and networking with people who will share detailed information about their businesses because they do not compete in the same country, offers real benefits,” a modest Stodel said this week.
“Very often ideas in Europe are a season early, so I can now make sure that I am overseas at least twice a year, three times if I can, to bring back innovative ideas for our local gardeners,” he added.
Fish Hoek turns 50
Celebrations are also taking place in the southern suburbs this week as the Fish Hoek Garden Club prepares to celebrate its 50th anniversary.
The climax of the celebration will be the annual Fish Hoek Spring Flower Show on Heritage Day next Saturday (10am to 3pm), to be held at the Fish Hoek Civic Centre.
“Our club has 60 members,” said chairman Gordie Robie.
“The bulk of our annual efforts go into the annual spring flower show, which has a plant section and a decorative or flower arranging section. Many of the category sections in this year’s competition have gold in their theme.
“The plant section of the competition has 65 categories and we expect to see a wide range of plants, from orchids to succulents, and roses to proteas.”
Robie said the soil in Fish Hoek was “not great”, and nor was the wind.
“But it is still amazing to see the plants that people bring to the show.”
The Fish Hoek Garden Club has also linked up with the local stamp society, which will display stamps with a floral theme.
l Tickets to the show: R5. Tea garden: R10.
Spring Gardening
If you are planning to stay in the garden this weekend, there’s lots that can be done to make sure that your garden is spectacular this summer.
Here are a few ideas:
l Next Saturday is Heritage Day. To flavour food, plant established basil, sage, thyme, parsley, fennel or oregano into attractive containers around your patio and braai area.
Never forget that fresh herbs are a glorious addition to your outdoor cooking and braaing.
l September is the month to plant summer bedding plants. For a sunny bed, plant salmon, purple or bright red salvia, petunias, perennial verbena, or even yellow or orange dwarf marigolds. The latter are an asset in the vegetable garden where they act as an insect repellent.
For shady gardens, there is little to beat begonias, but you can also try New Guinea impatiens and lobelia.
l Sowing seed into a flower bed. There are lots of seed that can be sown directly into prepared sunny flower beds, such as zinnia, nasturtium, candytuft, alyssum, portulaca, marigold or cosmos.
l What vegetables and herbs can you sow in a kitchen garden this month? Try cabbage, green peppers, chillis, cucumbers, lettuce and tomatoes.
Among the herbs, try basil, celery, chives, coriander, dill, fennel, marjoram, parsley, sage and thyme.
l Temperatures are rising, so start to fertilise your lawns. Sprinkle a handful (60g) of lawn fertiliser across your turf and water well. This can be done every six weeks until March.
l The royal house of Thailand has always been enthralled with the Madagascan crown of thorns (Euphorbia milii) and Thai horticulturists have been working on hybridising the plant for years. This spring, they have launched spectacular cream, orange and pink versions into garden centres, all of which are ideal for a hot summer garden.
l Look out for spring-flowering strelitzias (Strelitzia reginae): the common orange, the more exotic yellow Mandela’s Gold, or the very rare but spectacular Strelitzia juncea, with its narrow spines.
l It is the time to plant summer-flowering arums (yellow, purple, red and yellow hybrids), agapanthus (look out for the new bicolour varieties), dahlia, eucomis, galtonia, gladiolus, liatris, lilium, nerine, tuberose and tigridia. Plant the tubers in a container or bed in full sun and water weekly until April.
l There are many beautiful spring-flowering trees indigenous to South Africa. These include September Bells (Rothmannia globosa), tree wisteria (Bolusanthus speciosus) and wild pear (Dombeya rotundifolia). - Weekend Argus