A succulent success

March 2018

TASMANIANS’ PASSION for cacti and succulents attracted 700 people to Deloraine and raised $1600 for Lyme Disease research.

An organiser of an event held at the Deloraine Bowls Club last month, Rita Eastley, said people came from all over the state for the event where 10 experts exhibited their own special collections of old succulents and exotics.

“Fifteen vendors sold plants to the public as well, and many people were chasing rare varieties,” she said.

“Some had been brought into Tasmania from the U.S. by a Hobart collector.”

The funds supporting Lyme Disease research were raised though a gold coin entrance collection and the cost of vendors’ tables.

Mrs Eastley became interested in cacti through her brother, co-organiser and Launceston collector Robert Armstrong; she’s especially attracted to their glamorous flowers.

Deloraine people willingly lent a hand for the succulents event and the Bowls Club donated the venue.

Organisers plan to hold another event in Feb 2019.