Something to absorb at the Johannesburg Succulent Society
The society will have exhibit at the Bonsai, Succulent and Plant Show early November.
What is great about the Johannesburg Succulent Society is that much like the deeply rooted succulents they learn and educate about, so too is its history rooted in the community.
Read more: A succulents day comes to Fairland
The society, which recently found a new home at the Roosevelt Park Recreation Centre, will exhibit some of its members’ succulents at the Bonsai, Succulent, and Plant Show, which will be held at Killarney Mall from November 1 to 3.
To find out more about this succulent-loving group, the publication spoke to its former chairperson, Gerhard Sieburg. He shared that they aimed to promote knowledge of succulent plants and their cultivation and conservation and contribute towards protecting and conserving all indigenous plants and their habitats.
They have been following through with these objectives since they started back in 1953. Every year since then they have had monthly meetings as well as shows at least once or twice a year.
Also read: Which succulents are endangered, and why?
Sieburg attributes the society’s longevity through these seven decades to them being passionate about these plants. “We play a part in many ways. A few of our members have found new species, they are not botanists, they are just members of the society.”
As a child, he witnessed his grandmother’s love for gardening. When he and his parents moved to a home with a garden, he started planting a few aloes, bulbs, and some cycads. He thinks gardening is a fantastic hobby in the broader sense but it is the succulents that have all his love. “They hold so much of our heritage.”
The society has close to 200 members having started with 27 members in 2019.
They go out of their way to help non-members identify a plant they know little of.
Details: Johannesburg Succulent Society, jhbss.info@gmail.com
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