Collectors Gone Wild

SERIES 33 | Episode 29

Tammy visits a rare plant fair to check out what’s on offer, chat with collectors, and choose a few plants to take home herself.

The Collector’s Plant Fair is held in north-west Sydney every year, growing into a major event since 2005. It attracts the most hardcore plant nerds along with weekend gardeners, all keen to see what’s on offer from some of Australia’s top growers.

Specialist nursery owner David Fripp has been part of it since the start when “it was just in someone’s private property. I think there were 20 stalls, and it was in a paddock.” It got bogged a few times, but true plant people would go anywhere for plants! It’s now 200 stalls with a whole new generation of growers and punters.

This year David has focused on begonias, including the interesting ‘Fabulous Tom’ cultivar, a prostrate cane type with spotted leaves that’s great for hanging baskets and can handle the cold. He’s also brought along some unusual specimens such as Nematanthus wiehleri, hoping to share his “unbridled passion for gesneriads”.

There are plenty of weird and wonderful specimens for collectors including the alien-like stapelias, the perfect addition to a succulent or cacti collection. Keith Tollis has been growing them for 20 years and loves the flowers. “They’re striking, they’ve got furry petals which are absolutely amazing. They actually attract flies, their main pollinator” which is due to the smell that be a bit like dead fish!

For something a little more sweet and delicate, there are heaps of colourful orchids. Grower Hans Schaible specialises in Bulbophyllum frostii hybrids, also known as Dutch shoes or boots, as that’s what the flowers look like! Whilst orchids may have reputation as difficult to grow he says “people kill orchids with kindness. They think they need to be watered every day, they fiddle and fuss with them. And that’s what kills them.” Keep them moist, not wet, in part shade and leave them alone!

Indoor plants are a huge part of the fair in recent years. Jeremy Critchley grows lots of amazing foliage plants as a wholesaler, so this is a great chance to snap up some unicorns before they even get to the shops! He says plant trends are changing quickly, but alocasias are still popular, including the ‘Red Secret’ cultivar with glossy leaves or Alocasia azlanii with pink veins on dark green leaves.

Jeremy’s advice for alocasias and many indoor plants is “keeping them on the dry side, or at least having wet/dry cycles a little bit like they get in nature. The best trick that we use at our nursery is just to lift up the plant and you’ll soon get to know what a heavy pot is and what a light pot is. So if the pots gone a bit light, give it a drink.”

Another popular plant is rhipsalis, that are great indoors or out, in hanging baskets or trailing over walls. Grower Justine Smith has a large variety of species and cultivars each with their own unique textures and forms. Some are smooth, some are hairy and others like the closely related Lepismium houlletianum have pointy long leaves with beautiful yellow flowers. She says the best growing conditions are morning sun, a free draining potting mix, and watering once a week.

Filmed on Dharug Country | Clarendon, NSW