7:00 pm - Refreshments and Conversations
7:30 pm - Program: Gardens of Havana, Cuba by Jeff Pavlat
Jeff’s program will explore the streets, parks, and gardens of Havana. It includes a visit to UBPC Organopónico Vivero Alamar, an urban, organic farming cooperative just outside of Havana, and the Jardín Botánico Nacional de Cuba (National Botanical Garden of Cuba).
The 26-acre Organopónico Vivero Alamar provides employment for dozens of workers, while producing vegetables and medicinal plants for the community. Following the collapse of the Soviet bloc in the early 1990s, Cuba was no longer able to access machinery and agricultural chemicals from its former allies. In this difficult environment, the government relaxed economic rules and allowed the formation of cooperatives. What began as necessity – farming without pesticides and chemical fertilizers – is now a source of pride to members.
The Jardín Botánico Nacional de Cuba, was founded in 1967 and opened to the public in 1984. It covers nearly 1,500 acres and features close to 150,000 examples of 4,000 different species. There are greenhouses of succulents and tropical plants, an extensive palm collection, and numerous plantings of native and non-native species.
Jeff Pavlat
Jeff is the Vice President of Education for the Austin Cactus and Succulent Society, and a past society president. He currently serves as the Vice President of the Cactus and Succulent Society of America and Publications Committee Chair. He is the Vice President of Horticulture for the Austin Area Garden Council and on the Board of Trustees of the Zilker Botanical Garden Conservancy. Jeff received a BFA in Studio Art from the University of Texas at Austin with an emphasis on graphic design, photography, and printmaking.
Jeff has always liked desert plants, but became more interested in them as he began to landscape his home seventeen years ago. He was looking for plants that needed little water and wouldn’t be eaten overnight by deer. Cacti and succulents worked perfectly. While searching for suitable plants he discovered the diversity of amazing succulents from around the world. He was soon hooked and building his first greenhouse. He works part time as a horticulturist at Oracle Gorge, a small cactus and succulent nursery. He is an expert on succulent flora and maintains a large collection of rare plants. His hillside garden in Austin features extensive plantings of cacti and succulents and has become a favorite stop on several local garden tours.
