Since my last report, I have visited five District Groups and presented my talk on Flora of the Mornington Peninsula. Thank you to those groups for your welcome and hospitality; so great to catch up with people and make new friends. I have come home from these with plants, cuttings and new knowledge. I also cheekily invited myself on to an excursion with APS Latrobe Valley group, who was going to Mt Cannibal.

I particularly want to thank all the newsletter editors, who put such a lot of effort into the production of District Group newsletters. They are very informative and educational, and I really enjoy the perk of being President getting to read them all.

I spent an afternoon at MIFGS talking plants to people, and answering more queries about a pink-flowering corymbia than I thought possible. If you too volunteered, I hope you enjoyed the experience. I did get to have a look at some of the display gardens and the Scarecrow Competition (three of my grandsons’ school had entered). I found an eremophila in a hanging basket – ‘Big Polly’ – and hoped it wouldn’t be there for long, as this cultivar normally grows to 2 metres! There were a lot of natives on display, many provided by Kuranga, who put on a great display for APS Vic. Thank you Chris and Ben for your efforts.

At MIFGS we collected names of interested people in the new Melbourne group and by the time you read this, we expect the inaugural meeting to have been held. Watch this space!

The quarterly weekend in Horsham celebrating Wimmera growers 50th birthday was held on the 23 May. I will report on that next issue. Don’t forget any APS member can attend a quarterly weekend. A COM meeting is usually held on the Saturday morning, but the hosting group puts on activities for non-meeting attendees, although observers can attend the COM meeting if they wish to see how the Aps Vic is run. There are usually garden visits and a dinner, which are great ways to catch up with friends or make new ones. Can you see how social belonging to APS is? The next quarterly is in Warrnambool in November, when APS Warrnambool welcomes us to the Great South West when it hosts the Quarterly, Gathering, Committee of Management meeting and the APS Vic AGM on the 14-15 of November.

Over Easter I took one of my sons to the Kevin Hoffman Walk in Lara. We went there as part of an excursion when the ANPSA conference was in Melbourne in 2024, and I have wanted to go back and do a more in-depth look. We meandered for close on 2 hours. There was so much to see and discuss, lots in flower and new plantings from a grant of money from APS Vic.

Speaking of grants, the COM approved of a donation to the Australian Flora Foundation. The Foundation gives grants to people doing research into anything Australian-plant related. It was formed in 1981 by the then National SGAP body for exactly that purpose.

I want to remind District Groups that there are grants available from APS Vic specifically Growth and Development up to $5,000 and $10,000 for other things, like garden projects, revegetation etc.

I have never had a garden visit to my property in Mt Martha, but in the last 2 months I have had two. Both were add-ons to someone else’s garden visit to make it worthwhile holding the event. One for APS Mornington Peninsula members and one for the Eremophila Study Group, another social activity. Are your monthly meetings and excursions seen as social activities? I often have to shoo people home after our meetings where we gather for supper afterwards.
Lots of autumn plant sales have also been held and new members attracted to join APS Vic. I hope your group got some new members.

If you haven’t booked or decided yet, don’t forget the ANPSA biennial conference in Alice Springs (24–28 August 2026). The flowers promise to be spectacular with all the rain the region has had.

On a more sombre note, I would like to send my and the Executive’s thoughts and wishes to the families and friends of members of APS Vic who have passed away recently. We would like to acknowledge their contribution to the Australian Plants Society Victoria, whether that was as general member, committee member, propagator, writer of articles and books, or organiser of events, plants sales etc. The loss of knowledge, expertise and friendship cannot be replaced.