Monthly newsletter for Coffs Garden Club

1. 8
CHGC Newsletter No. 121 September 2016
Changes to our meeting venue will be
advised in the newsletter, our website
and on facebook.
Any cancellations to outings will be
advised in the same manner.
Sat 1 Oct Woopi Orchid and Spring Fair at the Woolgoolga Public School
Wed 5 Oct
9:15am
Airside Garden Maintenance @ Coffs Regional Airport.
Meet outside the Admin Building with gloves & tools.
Thu 6 Oct
9:30am
Outing to Bello—full details on web and page 7 of this
newsletter
Fri 14 Oct Closing date for Garden Clubs of Australia photo competition—
see their website for full details or check out the link on the side
panel of our website.
Sat 15 Oct
1:30pm
Monthly Meeting—Guest Speaker: Tini Sochon on looking after
our bodies whilst gardening.
Wed 2 Nov
9:15
Airside Garden Maintenance @ Coffs Regional Airport.
Meet outside the Admin Building with gloves & tools
Sat 19 Nov
1:30pm
Please, please consider taking on a role. Some of us are
getting a bit tired and there is a need for fresh faces on the
Executive and Committees, contact Geoff 6656 2429.
Sat 26 Nov Bunnings BBQ—This is our major fundraising event of the year
and money raised for this assists with the running of the Spring
Garden Competition. Simon Young 0417 526 522 will be the co
-ordinator for this event.
Tue 6 Dec
12 noon
Club Xmas Party
Greenhouse Tavern, Coffs—Payment and RSVP to Treasurer
by the AGM meeting on 19 November $20 per member,
$33.50 for non members
Meetings are held the 3rd Sat of the month (Jan-Nov) and commence at
1:30pm, Botanic Garden Display Room, Hardacre St, Coffs Harbour
Any meeting venue changes will be advised in the newsletter, CHGC website
and on facebook.
CHGC welcomes anyone who has great ideas on how to meet the needs of
our membership. Please call Geoff if you would like more information on the
various roles within the Club or to discuss your ideas T:6656 2429.
President: Geoff Bell 6656 2429
email: presidentchgc@gmail.com
Secretary: Michael Reid 6650 9485
email: secretarychgc@gmail.com
Treasurer: Anne-Maree Ely 6656 4229
email: treasurerchgc@gmail.com
www.coffsgardenclub.com
Editor: Maria Bell 6656 2429
Email contributions/feedback to:
coffsharbourgardenclub@gmail.com
Coffs Harbour
Garden Club Inc.
Newsletter Number 121
September 2016

2. 2
CHGC Newsletter No. 121 September 2016
FLOWER OF THE MONTH
October—Waratah
Waratah blooms are a symphony of
curved florets, cupped by a skirt of
petal-like bracts. If you think of
waratahs, deep blood-red is the
common image, but over the years
the colour choice has expanded and
today you can enjoy varieties in pure
white, pink and soft golden yellow. All
are gorgeous, and well worthy of a
space in your garden.
Waratahs are mainly spring flower-
ing, evergreen shrubs, occasionally
reaching small tree size in the wild.
They belong to a very small genus of
plants, just 5 species and are
endemic to NSW, Vic and Tassie.
Telopea x corroboree is a dense, medium/large shrub with broad grey-green
foliage and large flat flower heads providing nectar for honey eating birds. It is
a cross between Telopea speciosissima and Telopea mongaensis, giving this
plant great hybrid vigour. A great feature shrub for general garden beds,
rockeries or large container in full sun to part shade and a fantastic cut flower.
The NSW Waratah, (Telopea
speciosissima) is the best known
species—it is the floral emblem of
NSW and is grown commercially for
its superb cut flowers.
Like all members of the Proteaceae
family they are highly sensitive to
phosphorus, so best to use a fertilizer
low in phosphorus—a good native
slow release one should work well.
NSW Waratah
THOUGHT FOR THE MONTH
Pleasure is the flower that passes;
remembrance, the lasting perfume.
Jean de Boufflers
7
Outing—Thursday 6 October
The Program Committee have organized an absolute ripper of an
outing for October to Bellingen.
Meet: Botanic Garden to carpool (or The Rose Patch at 10:15am)
Departure time: 9:30am
VISIT: The Rose Patch, 63 Reids Road, Bellingen
About this destination—Until 1987 this 4ha garden was part of the
Kethel’s dairy farm and the only existing plants besides grass and
bracken fern were a clump of Callicoma in the gully, a mature
Tallowood and an Ironbark. What had been difficult terrain for farming
turned out to be an asset for the creation of an interesting garden with
hills lending themselves to natural display areas. Ulrieke & Ian Kethel
operate the property as a B&B and they have created a magnificent
garden that features roses, day lilies and hippeastrums (which they
also sell—good retail opportunity!). BYO morning tea overlooking the
wonderful vista of this garden (hot water provided).
Directions: (from Bellingen town centre) turn right into Bridge St,
cross the river and follow to left as Bridge St becomes Hammond St.
At roundabout, take 3rd exit to Wheatly St, which after a distance
becomes North Bank Rd, travel about 1km;
Turn left into Hydes Creek Rd, travel about 2.5kms;
Turn right into Reids Rd and look for Rose Patch at number 63.
VISIT: North Bank Community Garden, 100 Northbank Rd,
Bellingen.
We are planning to arrive here around 11:30am. This should be easy
to find given we drove past it on the drive out to the Rose Patch.
LUNCH: Old Butter Factory, Cnr Waterfall Way and Doepel St,
Bellingen.
The Program Committee are looking forward to an enjoyable day. See
you then. Please give one of the committee gals a call if you need a lift
or have any questions.
Sue Young 0413 883 831
Jane Durler 6656 1041
Pat Roser 6690 2511
Marg Franks 6656 0941
Thanks Sue for the Outing Details.

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CHGC Newsletter No. 121 September 2016
Due to family illness a huge collection of plants is being sold
off before a move north. Brian Newman is a renowned orchid
and bromeliad grower of great repute.
Brian would like for his plants to go to homes where they will
continue to be nurtured and loved. Brian has been the
President of the Woolgoolga Orchid Society for some time so
there is bound to be some absolute beauties up for sale. If you
are interested in purchasing some plants please just give
Brian a call on 6654 1432.
Quiz Answers
1. Photoperiodsim is defined in plants as the developmental
response to relative lengths of light and dark periods.
2. Typical short day plant would be the poinsettia. Because of
this, producers manipulate or mimic winter growing
conditions by the use of shades to block out the light.
3. A classic long day plant is the carnation and this is also manipulated to
produce flowers during the winter by the use of artificial light to mimic
the long days of summer.
4. Vernalisation is the number of chilling hours below 7o
C that a plant has
before blossoms are produced—eg cherries, plums etc
Toormina High ‘Coffee in the Courtyard’
During the judging of the Snowpea Teepee
Competition President Geoff and I visited many
schools throughout the Coffs Area. One of these
schools was Toormina High School Support Unit.
The Support Unit conduct a ‘Coffee in the Courtyard’
twice a term to assist students with disabilities to learn vocational skills. They
extended an invitation for members of Coffs Garden Club to attend—
apparently there will be music as well.
The dates for this term are Thu 3 Nov & Thu 1 Dec 10am—2pm. The CHGC
Nov outing is on Fri the 4th
and our Xmas Party is on Tue 6th
Dec, so both of
these dates are free of CHGC activities.
Would any members like to attend on either of these two days? It is my
intention to go in November and would love to have some company to
support Toormina High. It was wonderful to see their vegetable garden and
feel sure others would appreciate their efforts too.
Phone Maria 6656 2429 or (M) 0418 695 113
3
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE – SEPTEMBER 2015
The rain that’s falling as I write this has been really soft and
nice for our gardens, although I guess it wasn’t helpful to
those people wanting to take a look at the prize winners
from the Spring Garden Competition. Anyway, I’m sure this
bit of welcome moisture will go a long way to setting up your
gardens very nicely as we move quickly towards the warmer
months.
The September Club meeting means that our Garden Competition has been
run and completed for another year and I would like to congratulate everyone
who entered, whether you were successful or not.
Lots of people have contributed mightily to the success of the competition,
and I would like to say, on behalf of all Club members, a massive thankyou to
each and every one of you.
And a big thanks also to our sponsors, who are absolutely critical to the
success of the competition, and ultimately to our Club. And what a great
group of sponsors we have. Would you all please take the time to familiarise
yourselves with who they are, and if you come across them, please let them
know that we appreciate their support and, of course where it’s appropriate,
support them with your business in return.
I mentioned at the last couple of monthly meetings that we need people to
continue putting their hand up to help run our Club.
Please remember that every club depends on its members being active and
involved, because without that, there really isn’t a club at all. Our Club has a
long and successful history in Coffs Harbour, but it is self-evident that no-one
from our current membership was around when the club was initially formed.
That means successive generations have kept the club alive for some 65
years now, ultimately for our benefit as its current members. I think that
benefit comes with a responsibility on all of us to ensure the current and
future gardeners of Coffs Harbour will continue to have the opportunity to join
a vibrant, broadly-based community gardening organisation where friendships
can be made and gardening expertise shared among like-minded people.
Our AGM is fast approaching, so whether you’ve been around for a while, or
are new to the Club, please consider taking on a job for next year, either on
the Executive or perhaps one of the committees. If anyone would like
information on any role within the Club, please give me a call on 6656 2429
and I’ll fill you in on what’s involved.
President’s Message
Geoff Bell

4. 4
CHGC Newsletter No. 121 September 2016
1. What is photoperiodism?
2. Can you name a ‘short day plant’?
3. Can you name a ‘long day plant’?
4. What does the term ‘vernalisation’ mean?
If you are wanting up-to-date information
about our club or activities please visit our
website at www.coffsgardenclub.com
Wishing the following members a very happy birthday
for September:
Andrea Baker, Graham Davey, Daphne Douglas,
Harry Glynn, Maudje Harman, Robyne Moulds
and Noelene Sell
(for answers see page 6)
A huge thank you to the CHGC team in excellent co
-ordination for the Spring Garden Competition
Presentation Night.
Everything was just perfect from the Hall setup/
breakdown, members who provided wonderful food
for the scrummy supper (I think we still hold the title
of providing a ‘Great Old Fashioned Supper’), John
Staggs for heading up the Cavanbah liaison and
award/banner co-ordinator, Margaret Crawley & Jeannine Young for their
terrific efforts in organizing the food, Jeannine Young for leading the floral
team, Margaret Crawley for the district Trophy collection, Simon being the ‘go
-for’ Presentation Awards /Trophies and contributing to the raffle, Peter for
the banner handout, Michael for his photography, Mary Booth, Anne-Maree &
Tom Ely selling tickets and of course President Geoff for his excellent MC-ing
of the night—even when the mic battery ran out of puff he just notched up his
volume a bit so the awards went ahead seamlessly. WELL DONE TEAM!
It’s just fabulous how we can band together to make this night one befitting
an Awards night. This IS an important event for the entrants in the Spring
Garden Competition and we, as a club have the responsibility to make it as
memorable and special as we can for them.
5
Spring Garden Competition Round Up.
Both CHGC and Woolgoolga Garden Club members had great success in the Garden
Competition this year. A huge thank you to all members who worked so hard to prepare
their gardens for judging and entering the competition.
COFFS HARBOUR GARDEN CLUB WINNERS:
Tobyn & Jim Tozer—
Champion Garden
1st Home garden block from 601m2
to 1000m2
1st Best Garden Feature—pool area
Mary Booth—
1st Home garden, owner/occupier of strata/community, dwelling
Annette & Laurie Gardner—
2nd Home garden, owner/occupier of strata/community, dwelling
1st Patio, courtyard or balcony garden
Ted & Melva Grebert—
Highly Commended Home garden maintained by entrant over 75 years of age
Mary Duroux—
2nd Home garden on rented property
2nd Most attractive front garden
Green Gardens Villas (Peter’s Complex) -
2nd Whole garden of complex operating under a Body Corporate structure
Betty Durler—
1st Vegetable Garden, small up to 4m2
Simon Young—
2nd Vegetable Garden, large over 4m2
CHGC—
2nd Coffs Harbour Regional Airport Airside Garden
WOOLGOOLGA GARDEN CLUB WINNERS:
Judith Jackson—
Waterwise A
Peter & Yvonne Drysdale—
Highly Commended in Home garden, owner/occupier of strata/community dwelling
Peg Willmott—
1st Home garden, block size from 1001m2
to 4000m2
2nd Home garden maintained by entrant over 75 years of age
Joan Simson—
1st Home garden on rented property
Fiona Simmonds—
Highly Commended Garden maintained by a disabled person