Attila Kapitany gave a lively and entertaining talk and taught us many things about cacti.
He showed photos of the very attractive garden at their house in Boronia and also their show garden in Narre Warren North. He and Michele have travelled overseas many times looking at cacti in their native habitats.
Attila showed us photos of mainly succulent gardens and explained how easy they were to maintain. He said succulents' popularity may be a fad, but they have a big future and will become more popular. Attila is the author of several books, and believes there are many more varieties of succulents to discover.
Succulents thrive in dry, still and sunny positions and can resist frost and cold weather. They can also be grown very successfully as an understory for roses. Echeverias are particularly good for this and provide a lovely carpet with no mulch required.
For hundreds of years, gardeners have laboured with the work of heavy-type gardening.
It costs too much to have all the equipment which is possible, which then use lots of petrol and makes gardening into a noisy task instead of being a relaxation. Cultivation of succulents removes many of those problems, by being low maintenance and easy to cultivate.
