What Does Membership in the Rare Fruit Society of South Australia Inc. Offer?

Membership in the Rare Fruit Society of South Australia Inc. gives you access to regular meetings with guest speakers, a digital newsletter before each meeting, hands-on grafting and propagation workshops, a members' library, trading tables selling fruit trees and grafting material, and field trips to orchards and research stations. It suits home growers and enthusiasts who want to grow fruit and food plants from cool-temperate, temperate, subtropical and elevated tropical regions, and who want to learn from other members' recorded successes and failures.

Meetings and guest speakers

The society holds meetings where members listen to guest speakers and draw on the knowledge of more experienced members. As a current example from the site, the November meeting is listed for Tuesday 24th November 2026 at the San Giorgio Club, 11 Henry Street, Payneham, starting at 7:30pm. Parking is available at the venue or in the adjoining Council car park, and members are asked not to park on the street.

The listed guest speaker for that meeting is Mark Henley, speaking about "50 Years of The Rare Fruit Society."

Practical notes from the same notice:

• If you bring fruit, or baked goods using fruit, from your garden to share for supper, bring it cut up and labelled.
• Trading tables will be available.
• If you are feeling unwell, do not attend the meeting.

What members actually do

The society describes its activities as a mix of growing, learning and exchanging knowledge:

• Growing: Members grow fruits and food plants from the four corners of the globe, originating from cool-temperate, temperate, subtropical and elevated tropical regions. Records are kept of successes and failures.
• Learning from speakers and members: Top guest speakers appear at most meetings, alongside local knowledge from more experienced members.
• Skills training: Members learn to graft, bud and propagate at workshop sessions, and through the library and locally produced fact sheets.
• Newsletter: A digital newsletter is sent before each meeting, containing articles and experiences supplied by other members. It usually includes an outline of the previous guest speaker's presentation or a description of a prior field trip or seminar.
• Field trips: Members visit established fruit properties, research stations and other members' orchards, usually with a sampling of the produce.
• Trading table: At nearly every meeting, members may purchase fruit trees, rootstocks, budwood, grafting material and unusual plants for a modest outlay. Books, grafting tools, tapes and sharpeners are also available.

Library access

The members' library has a specific borrowing rule worth noting before you plan a visit: only books ordered via the website will be available for collection. To borrow, log into the website and click on the library tab to view books.

Heritage orchard

The society maintains a large collection of rare and heritage variety fruit trees grown by its members. Its heritage fruit tree orchard at Kanmantoo was established in conjunction with Neutrog Ltd.

Is membership right for you?

Membership fits you if you want structured, in-person learning about rare and unusual fruit, plus access to propagation material and a community that documents what works and what does not. It is less suited to someone looking only for online content, since the core benefits — meetings, workshops, trading tables and field trips — happen in person in South Australia.

To join or check current arrangements, use the Membership page on rarefruit-sa.org.au. Note that the Members Area requires a login, so library and member-only content are not accessible without an account.