Australian Succulents

We regularly visit clubs, societies and other organisations to give presentations on a range of gardening and botanical topics focusing mostly on dry climate plants, specialising in cacti and succulents.
If interested please contact us for more information and any fees involved.
We bring a professional outfit of 'hands-free' portable PA system, powerful digital projector, laptop, books & plants for sale & information handouts. We also bring 30 years of enthusiasm and experience in entertaining in the horticultural field. (Please ask for national and international references).

In the last ten years we have expanded our speaking circuit to include international events.

FORTHCOMING EVENT:

 Wednesday 17^th March, 10.30 am - 12 noon

 Sydney Botanic Gardens

A Presentation by Attila Kapitany - 'Australian Native Succulents'

VENUE: Maiden Theatre, Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney

Friends $12.00, non-members $18.00, includes morning tea at 10.30 am

Contact: 02 4888 9262  Beth Stokes beth.stokes@bigpond.com 
Organised by Friends of the Gardens

 

Below is a list of topics about which I’m regularly asked to speak (there is also a more specialised topic list BELOW).

 

GENERALIST LIST

For special or full day events, a second or third talk is available at no extra cost.

1. Succulents for the garden (part 1)
2. Leading Kids down the Garden Path.
3. ‘Creating a Tropical Look in a Cool Climate’
4. Rare and unusual plants
5. Argentina –plants from high altitudes of the Andes down to tropical and subtropical rainforests (all habitat)
6. Succulents Success (part 2) – includes propagation and nursery cultivation
7. Boabs and Bottletrees and other extremely waterwise Australian natives.
8. Tropical plants of north QLD.
9. Australian native succulents, do we have any worth knowing about?
10. Australian Boabs, Bottletrees and the Illawarra Flametree
11. Succulent Projects (part 3) Imaginative and exciting ideas for gardeners who want to have fun with succulents. Includes useful, edible, medicinal and lots more.
12. West Australian wildflowers – a different perspective
13. Trees – A tribute to giants of the plant world
14. Australia’s most popular native trees for gardens – (apart from gum trees)
15. Photographing plants & flowers - great hints for beginners.
16. Botanical Gardens of Australia - a pictorial tour of some of their best parts and plants
17. Aeoniums, Aloes and other winter garden succulents.
18. The value of succulents in everybody's garden.
19. Australian Succulent plants for the Garden.
20. Some cacti and succulents are invasive or weedy.
21. A guide to visiting cacti & succulents in the USA.

*I can also tailor a presentation to suit your climate, conditions or other special needs or interest.

Please don't hesitate to inquire further.

*SPECIALIST LIST
Please enquire. This list of comprehensive & more technical topics is available for professional or specialist organisations.

1. Australian native succulents - part 1 - Eastern Australia. (Includes some introduced species.)
2. Australian native succulents - part 2 - Central & Western Australia. (All indigenous, including the ‘Wongan Cactus'.)
3. Halophytes - as Worthwhile Succulents (all Australian native succulents)
4. The life cycle of a plant collector - from a cactus and succulent perspective.
5. Succulents - The Future.
   Fashion, fad or a permanent place in the sun. A look at current and future trends both here and overseas.
   What the industry needs to know.
6. Waterwise Succulents in effective Garden Design.
   What do spring bulbs, roses, and formal gardens have in common with succulents?
7. Australian Native Succulents
   Do we have any? Or any that are worthwhile? Be prepared to be pleasantly surprised. This covers many rare and unusual plants some of which have never been trialled in gardens before. Also marvel at some majestic and spectacular giant succulent trees of our continent, some grotesque and monstrous, others appearing in need of a hug. Some interesting aspects of succulent plant use in the garden will be explored.
   This talk also includes a colourful visual tour of the lesser known and intriguing wild flowers and plants of the Western Australia wheat belt and the far North West. Including the strikingly attractive ‘wreath' and ‘feather' flowers.
8. Argentina - plants from high altitudes of the Andes down to tropical and subtropical rainforests (all habitat) This is mostly a cactus talk.
9. Copiapoa - part 1 - Introduction, habitat, cultivation and the production of our book, ‘Copiapoa in their Environment' (co authored with Rudolf Schulz).
10. Copiapoa - part 2 - Chile, the Atacama Desert Revisited (5 years later). What's changed? What surprises were there? A team of international enthusiasts and botanists come together for this adventure. Some new spectacular pictures of plants, people and habitat.
11. Echeveria Cultivars - Echeverias are often seen as the most beautiful and desirable of all garden succulents. An introduction to echeveria cultivars and their striking colours, swirls, frills used as individual statements or in creative garden design - ideal for a waterwise garden.
12. Echeveria Hybridising - For over 100 years echeverias have been bred for increased colour, shape and form to what they are today - diverse and spectacular. Includes many of the famous Dick Wright hybrids from the late 1990's. Also a look at the species in nature and those which were used in early hybridising, and the features for which they were chosen.
13. Ant Plants - bizarre and unusual myrmecophytic plants of the Cape York Peninsula of Australia. A range of plants including Myrmecodia, Hydnophytum and Dischidia species, as well as other curiosities of the area including native Nepenthes, our largest carnivorous plant.
14. What you need to know - Which of our favourite cacti & succulents are also weeds in parts of Australia?
15. Cultivation trials of Australian succulent plants - the failures and successes. Some quite spectacular.
16. Bizarre and interesting relationships between Plants and Butterflies, Ants and other Insects
17. Smaller cacti of the USA - a look at the less obvious plants of the desert landscape
18. Opuntias - love them or hate them - many hundreds of species in all shapes colours and sizes in habitat and cultivation.
19. Giant cacti of the American Southwest - the Saguaro (Carnegia gigantea) and the Barrel Cactus (several Ferocactus species) are the main focus.
20. Spectacular Botanical Gardens of the USA - that feature cacti and succulents
21. Succulent Orchids of Australia - mostly lithophytic and epiphytic plants of the east coast.
22. Fire and native succulent plants and trees - featuring bottle trees and other fire-resistant Australian native plants
23. Landscape Succulents of the Future - a look at possibly less common & obscure plants to many in the horticultural industry who are now looking at alternative, more structural xerophytic plants such as Dracaena draco, Yucca, Dasylirion, Dyckia, Hecktia, Puya, Nolina.