THE TEESSIDE BRANCH PHOTO GALLERY Trips
A few Branch members travel extensively to see cacti and succulents, to shows, sales, nurseries, talks, conventions or even their natural habitats. Most, however, rely on organised visits to see such places.
Based in the northeast of England there are relatively few local specialist nurseries. For this reason we arrange trips (sometimes in conjunction with Northumbria Branch), often by coach or minibus, so that members can travel further afield. The trips may visit several nurseries in a single day giving members the chance to purchase from a wide selection of plants. In order to maximise the number of members able to benefit, the Branch often subsidises the cost of the transport.
Even members not wanting to buy large numbers of plants can have a great day out. The trip is a social occasion, and just walking round the larger nurseries looking at the plants is well worthwhile - especially in spring when the benches can be a sea of colourful flowers.
There never seems to be enough time to everything, whether at one of the larger nurseries where the sheer size of the place and the thousands of plants mean plenty of legwork, or one of the smaller establishments where it still takes time to find that choice gem hidden in the last corner!
As well as the plants, the social aspects of the trips are very important. Both the journey and the time spent at the nurseries give time for members to talk and to get to know each other better and to pick each others brains about plant cultivation, etc. What better time to do this than when relaxing over lunch, or over the refreshments which some nurseries kindly provide to the visitors.
The Branch has visited at least eight different nurseries in recent years, some large, some small, but each providing something a little different.
As well as the nurseries, Branch trips have also gone to National Shows, sales conventions and display greenhouses such as those at Moorbank Gardens in Newcastle and Tropical World in Leeds, pictured below.
Photographs at Croston Cactus and David Rushforth's by John Gamesby, all other photographs by : John Ellis

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