In the morning of Nov. 10, Vice Mayor Herbert Bautista, who himself has a green thumb, judged the hotly contested "Kawa" Landscaped Dish Garden competition, which had 11 very good entries from various society teams.
I first walked the Vice Mayor through each of the entries, explaining the plants and landscaping design and motivation used in each entry. Then he spent the next 30 minutes or so studying each entry on his own, taking notes and making careful comparisons between the various landscaped designs. At the end, the Vice Mayor adjudged the team led by Dorie Bernabe, our CSSP vice president and overall chairperson for the show, as the winner. Second place went to the team led by Becky Buenaventura. By the way, it was Becky’s brainchild to put up this event to raise funds, not just for our society but also for the victims of the Guimaras oil spill. Third place went to the team of Peter Bangayan and Joey de Castro, our two frequent contributors to Succulentophile who worked on their Kawa from evening to the wee hours of the morning prior to the competition.
I want to thank Vice Mayor Herbert Bautista for taking time out of his busy schedule to grace our event and judge this very important competition.
We had a very good turnout for our cacti and succulent table competition with over 100 entries from our members in over 15 categories. Cesar Cheng’s well-grown and nurtured Momordica rostrata caudex won the top prize for Best in Show. Cesar is a fantastic grower of beautiful succulent specimens who has also cultured some of the best-looking euphorbias and pachypodiums you will find anywhere. The best succulent award went to Dorie Bernabe’s huge aloe entry. And the best cactus award went to Airene Bernal for her beautiful and rare Uebelmannia flavispina.
Guest of honor Quezon City Mayor Sonny Belmonte formally opened the show in the afternoon to a packed audience. Part of the opening included the unveiling of my exhibit of some rare cacti from Mexico and the US Southwest. The three genera I showcased are the ariocarpus, lophophora and leuchtenbergia. These are among the most coveted succulents by collectors worldwide for their weird, non-cactus-like appearance, and their great rarity. Serapion Metilla, CSSP co-founder 28 years ago, landscaped my exhibit and used some of his special stones for background effect.
There is a lot more to this year’s show than just great cacti and succulents. Beautiful birds, cats and dogs are on sale, too. Vangie Go, renowned sansevieria expert, brought her beautiful red macaw and her sulcata tortoises. During the week, Tiffany Cham gave a lecture on exotic pets like snakes, lizards and tortoises. And Fred Salud talked about how to care for your pet birds. We have a few of these pets at home and my kids really enjoy them.
The daily lectures are scheduled at 3 p.m. Today, Vic Chin will give a lecture on growing euphorbias. On Sunday, Dr. Raymundo Lo will talk about how to choose and care for your dog. And to wrap things up on Monday, Serapion Metilla will talk about the art of Ikebana using cacti and succulents.
Orchids, herbs, ferns, fruit trees, bromeliads, pitcher plants and many other garden ornamentals are also available at the show. Get a head start on Christmas and check out the Christmas decor. Even nice woodworks and antiques from Ilocos are available. I’m sure you will find great Christmas gift ideas at the show. Hope to see you there.