Cereusly Speaking. Cacti of the season: outdoor blooms

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1 Cereusly Speaking June 2013 Vol. 6 Issue 2 Cactus and Succulent Society of Alberta Cacti of the season: outdoor blooms In this issue: 2 Upcoming events 3 Election notice 2013 membership Cactuses growing outdoors bloom over a short season, usually from mid-june to mid-july. Here are some beautiful blooms from recent years (this newsletter had to be prepared before this year s blooms were ready). 4 Cacti for connoisseurs photo contest 6 Advice/Buy/ Sell/Trade 7 Photo gallery 9 Newsletter archive Native Opuntia fragilis at Gibbons, Alberta Escobaria vivipara: native in southern Alberta (this one in an Edmonton garden) Opuntia polyacantha: the species is native to southern Alberta, but this hardy purple desert variety from the U.S. is in an Edmonton garden Not native but hardy: pediocactus simpsonii growing in an Edmonton garden

2 The Cactus and Succulent Society of Alberta was established in 1997 by a group of people sharing an interest in these odd and unusual plants. We meet at least four times a year usually on Sundays to exchange information on how to propagate, grow, and take care of cacti and succulents. President Colin Bundred Secretary Mike Gibbins Treasurer Rene Haasdyk Message from the President Hi everybody, it seems like every President s message starts with a comment on the weather! Well this one is no different. At the time of writing the terrible flooding in Calgary is in everyone s thoughts. Fortunately, although suffering almost incessant rain for the last few weeks, it looks like the northern parts of the Province will escape any major disaster. In spite of all this, the club has had a couple of very successful meetings, a trip to Amy & Darrel s home and collection, and some of us even made it out into the field to see some Opuntia polyacantha near Donalda. Needless to say, flowering was pretty minimal. Hopefully the worst of the rain is over and our plants will get the sunshine they deserve. On a personal note, I attended the Victoria club s show and sale and as usual was impressed with the quality of the show plants and also the for-sale plants. I also spent a week in Texas at the CSSA convention, excellent as always, as well as three days visiting Big Bend National Park, a must for lovers of succulent plants. Here s hoping for a drier, sunnier, July August and September. Colin Upcoming events Sunday June 30, 1:30 p.m. The annual viewing of cactuses in bloom and barbecue at Jean & John Wieprecht s place, Avenue NW, Edmonton. Sunday August 25, 2 p.m. The Society s annual general meeting, election of officers and burger potluck. Please see this newsletter s important notice about the election of officers and consider standing! Welcome, Michael! Welcome to new member Michael Barton from Edmonton! We re looking forward to seeing your collection. Vice-President, Comminications Olga Mikheenkova Contact the society at: Cactus, St. Edmonton, AB T6J 5C4 or michael.gibbins@ ualberta.ca Saturday August 31. Deadline for submissions to the 2013 photo contest. Details later in this newsletter. Cactus garden weeding at Devonian Botanic Garden. Late July and mid-september. Sunday, September 29. Muttart Conservatory free day show and sale. Plants for display and/or sale, as well as staffing the tables, are needed and welcome. October members meeting. Date will be set later. Christmas party. Breaking with the tradition of having the party at a member s house on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon, the 2012 party was held at a restaurant on a Friday evening. Following up on discussion at the April meeting of what to do this year, please let us know your wishes. Should we stay with a restaurant? Have the party on a Sunday afternoon? Any other changes? 2

3 Advice/Buy/ Sell/Trade Later in this newsletter is a page of questions, wishes for plants to buy or trade for, plants to be sold or given away, etc. This has been a feature of the newsletter for some time, with the hope that this can develop into a networking feature where members can keep in touch with each other. However, there has been little response to this feature. Please let us know if there are changes that would make it more useful, or if it should be continued at all. Cereusly Speaking archive At the back of this issue, after the Photo Gallery, we have listed various articles and features appearing in the newsletter over the past 5+ years. If you would like a copy of any item, or would like to see it re-run in a future issue, please let us know. The list shows an amazing contribution by the members of the Society. Thanks! Mailing or ing the newsletter? Some members prefer to get Cereusly Speaking by , others by mail. We are happy to mail it to anyone who would prefer a hard copy, especially if that increases the likelihood that the newsletter will be read. Please let us know if you d like it mailed membership fees Membership fees haven t changed for years: $15 for individuals, $20 for couples or families, and $300 for a life membership. Young people can join for free. Please send your fee to Treasurer Rene Haasdyk, St. NW, Edmonton AB T5W 5C6, or take it to an event or meeting before August 31. Recent meetings and events We ve had two meetings already this year, both with presentations, plant show & tells and plant door prizes: April 28 at Strathcona County Library, with slide presentations by George Grozev, Bernice & Fred van de Voort and Mike Gibbins, and which also featured the distribution to members of the Society s Library books; and June 9 at Arch Greenhouses, which featured very interesting presentations on growing from seed and cactus identification by Colin Bundred, with much discussion of both topics, along with a large number of illustrative cacti and other plants Colin provided. Some members took pots and seed away and are to report back to a future meeting about how growing from seed has gone. At the April 28 meeting, member Fred van de Voort lent his projector to the Society for an indefinite period, to replace the projector half interest that we sold to the African Violets society. Thanks, Fred! We also had our first Devonian Botanic Garden cactus weeding on June 13. Thanks to weeders Bernice, Fred, Mike, Rene and Wayne! An outing planned when this newsletter was prepared was to go down to Lacombe to see Amy & Darrel Allen s plants, with a side trip to the badlands to the east guided by Rene Haasdyk to see Opuntia polyacantha in bloom. Thanks in advance to Amy, Darrel and Rene. IMPORTANT NOTICE The Society elects its officers every two years at the August Annual General Meeting. There are four officers: President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer, who constitute the Executive. The current officers are listed on the second page of this newsletter. All positions are open for nominations before or during this year s AGM on August 25. It s a good idea to bring new ideas into the Executive regularly, so the current officers encourage nominations. Please think about putting your name forward or suggesting another member (who would then be contacted). The Newsletter Editor is not an officer, but if anyone is interested in being the Editor, please make your interest known. Please forward any nominations or expressions of interest to the Secretary, Mike Gibbins, at michael.gibbins@ ualberta.ca or

4 Cereusly Speaking Publisher The Cactus and Succulent Society of Alberta Editor Mike Gibbins ualberta.ca Design and layout by Olga Mikheenkova Cereusly Speaking is published four times a year: at the end of March, June, September and December. Cereusly Speaking is distribu ted to the members of the Cactus and Succulent Society of Alberta by mail or . The electronic version of the newsletter is an exact co py of its printed version. Readers are encou raged to sub mit articles and photographs. The publisher reserves the right to edit any material submitted for publication. Cacti for connoisseurs by Colin Bundred Another in the regular series of articles about Colin s favourite plants, this time Echinocereus viridiflorus. This plant occurs over a wide area and as such, a number of varieties have been described. Generally it is a small solitary or clumping plant, globular to shortly cylindrical in shape, 1-6 in length with approximately 12 low ribs. There are radial spines and although most varieties lack a central spine some do have quite a prominent one, white tipped and reddish brown. The flowers, which are freely produced after a suitably cold winter s rest, are sweetly scented and can vary from a light yellowish green to a remarkably intense green. Reportedly the most northerly occurring member of the Echinocerei genus this remarkable little plant has an extremely wide distribution east of the Rocky Mountains through Southwestern South Dakota, eastern Wyoming, eastern Colorado and New Mexico down to the Big Bend region of Texas. Typical habitats range from desert grasslands, Great Plains grasslands and mountain foothills. In spite of not being found naturally north of South Dakota it is extremely hardy and flourishes in well drained rock gardens in the Edmonton area. The pictured plant is reportedly from an elevation of 6650 feet, Elbert County, Colorado. Cactus and Succulent Society of Alberta 4

5 2013 photo contest The deadline is approaching for the 2013 photo competition. Members of the Society, spouses/ partners and prospective members are all welcome to submit photos taken by the person submitting them. If you re not yet a member, you are welcome to participate: just submit your photos along with the $15 membership fee. The objective is to encourage interest in cacti and succulents, so the emphasis is on the plants rather than the photographic technique. Competition categories All photos must feature cacti and/or other succulents in some way, and may have been taken in Alberta or anywhere else. These categories are not mutually exclusive, so for each photo you choose the category that you believe best represents your photo. 1 Outdoors: photos of natural settings, landscapes or panoramas. 2 Outdoors: photos of your or others gardens, or other displays such as botanical gardens. 3 Indoors or outdoors: photos of individual or a few flowering cacti, including close-ups. 4 Indoors or outdoors: photos of individual or a few flowering succulents, including close-ups. 5 Indoors or outdoors: photos of spination, foliage or other non-flower features. 6 Other interesting photos having something to do with cacti and/or succulents (this category is a residual any photos you wish to submit that don t seem to fit any of z the other five categories). Details a. Each person may submit up to five photos in total across the six categories, so choose your best photos! You specify each photo s category. b. Photos may be submitted electronically, or as printed photos or slides. Photos may have been taken at any time in the past, but photos submitted to the 2012 or earlier contests may not be resubmitted. Photos used in any prior publications may be submitted, as long as publication in the newsletter Cereusly Speaking is permitted (please so indicate). c. Any size or resolution is acceptable, but you must do any cropping or other alterations to the photo before submission. If you have a printed photo that you want to submit only part of, please just indicate the part you want included. d. There should be no identification of you on the face of any photo. e. The submitter of the winning photo in each category will receive a $25 gift certificate. f. The winning photo in each category will be chosen by vote of members present at a members meeting. All submitted photos will be projected on-screen and a check-list of them will be provided to members to facilitate voting. g. Winning photos will be displayed in a special section of Cereusly Speaking. Other photos may appear elsewhere in the newsletter. h. Your photo remains your property, but by submitting it, you grant permission for it to be published in the newsletter Cereusly Speaking. Your permission for any other use will be separately sought from you. Submission and Deadline Submit your photos by August 31, 2013 to the Society s Secretary, Mike Gibbins, at michael.gibbins@ualberta.ca or Street NW, Edmonton AB, T6J 5C4. Phone with any questions. 5

6 Advice/Buy/Sell/Trade This is an opportunity for you to list your questions, your wishes for plants to buy or trade for, any plants you want to sell or give away, etc. We hope this can develop into a networking feature where members can keep in touch with each other, and it should supplement the show and tell and plant exchanges at the meetings. Please respond to or comment on these items if you can, and add any of your own for the September newsletter by early September. Looking for small cacti (also cuttings, seedlings) from Escobaria, Echinocereus, Pediocactus, Rebutia, Sclerocactus genera. Also interested in selected Lobivia (Echinopsis), Echinocereus, Mammillaria, Coryphanta spp. etc. george.grozev@nl.rogers.com. Wanted Euphorbias, especially anything unusual or so ugly it is beautiful! Mike Gibbins michael.gibbins@ ualberta.ca. Katrina Hodgson: Here s a Canadian mail order source for succulents. They also do custom orders, which might be attractive for some requests in this section. I don t have any experience with them, though. Blue Fox Farm, Grand Forks, BC ( George Grozev: There s a free online book on Coryphantha at doc/ /cacti-coryphantha. Editor s note: If you are trying to identify a cactus, there are many websites to try. One good one is cactiguide.com. After our identification efforts at the June 2013 meeting, we could use the help! Wanted to buy plants (or seeds), virtually any Echinopsis (small Lobivias or large Trichocereusare fine), but would prefer varieties with colors other than white. An to let us know what s available would be very much appreciated. Amy & Darrel Allen. Some interesting links suggested by George Grozev: (a recent newsletter is at pdf); xerophilia.ro/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/issue_ pdf; xerophilia.ro/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/xerophilia-nr pdf darrelamy@xplornet.com. George also asks if anyone has some Pereskiopsis for grafting. george.grozev@nl.rogers.com. Beaver Creek Greenhouses ( is an excellent and speedy source of winter-hardy cacti, alpines and some native plants, plus cacti that have to stay indoors in Edmonton. Several of our members have bought numerous plants from Beaver Creek. Doug Grobel: Valley Succulents, out of Comox, BC. They offer some nice coloured Opuntias, listed as hardy for Zone 4 so maybe good starting material for a breeding project. The pads are healthy looking and a nice size. Phone Doug also reminds us to check Ellerslie Gift & Garden out because they periodically get good shipments of cacti and other succulents. Amy Allen: I ve found a very interesting blog written by a woman in California, with some excellent ideas for the tools of the trade in a recent posting: blogspot.ca. Also, I ve started putting pieces of plastic screen in the bottom of pots to hold the dirt in. Seems to work well. 6

7 Photo gallery: Part I From the April 28 meeting, some door prize plants and a tray of Colin Bundred s mostly flowering cacti. In April, there was a great kerfuffle in Edmonton about the biggest flower in the world, an exceedingly smelly flower pollinated by flies attracted by that smell, flowering at the Muttart Conservatory. Though Amorphopallus titanum (or Corpse Flower, fondly called Putrella ) is not a cactus or succulent, its strategy is similar to that of a favourite strain of succulents with smelly flowers: Stapelia and its relatives. So you might like a photo of the big flower on April 22, 2013 (photo capture from the Muttart website). Amy Allen sent two interesting photos from the collection she and Darrel have. The left one is a Crassula lycopoidioides composite, and the right is one of their orchid cactuses. 7

8 Photo gallery: Part II Bernice van de Voort sent some dramatic photos of a bobcat up on a Saguaro cactus this spring, taken by Curt Fonger of Gold Canyon, Arizona. Here are two. From the June 9 meeting, photos of most of the members attending, plus one of Colin s flowering examples, a Rebutia. 8

9 Cereusly Speaking archive List of articles and features in the 21 issues of Cereusly Speaking March 2008-March Cactus/succulent of the season (contributed by various members and accompanied by photos): March 2008 Echinocereus reichenbachii subsp. Sept Uglies? Euphorbia flanagnii, Echinopsis albisipinus eyriesii June 2008 Mammillaria bocasana Dec Orbea variegata (Starfish cactus) Sept Herbstfruede Sedum Autumn Joy March 2011 Aloe variegata & Gasteria batesiana Dec Opuntia heacockii June 2011 Echinocereus papillosus March 2009 Winter bloomers: Euph. milii, Crass. Sept Opuntia fragilis v. denudatea & orbicularis Chamaelobivia rose quartz June 2009 Pediocactus simpsonii yellow spring Dec Faucaria tigrina Sept Opuntia phaecantha & Mammillaria March 2012 Crassula falcate (Propeller plant) theresae June 2012 Echinocereus reichenbachii v. albispinus Dec Lithops bromfieldii Sept Five foliage photos March 2010 Sansevieria cylindrica Dec Stapelia nobilis June 2010 The saguaro March 2013 Turbinicarpus valdesianus Results of photo contests (showing the photos): Dec contest winners March contest runners-up Dec contest winners March 2012 Dec March contest runners-up 2012 contest winners 2012 contest runners-up Cacti for connoisseurs by Colin Bundred (accompanied by photos): June 2008 Mammillaria glassi June 2011 Sept Ubelmannia pectinfera Sept Dec Echinocereus rigidissimus var. rubispinus Dec March 2009 Rebutia pygmaea haggei June 2009 Obregonia denegrii June 2012 Sept Escobaria minima Sept Dec Adenium obesum Desert Roses in the Dec Bahamas March 2010 Agave titanota An Agave in the Bahamas March 2013 June 2010 Rebutia krainziana Sept Mammillaria guelzowiana Escobaria vivipara ssp. bisbeeana Setiechinopsis mirabilis Agave victoriae-reginae (Queen Victoria Agave) Cleistocactus strausii Lobivia famatimensis Euphorbia milii var splendens (Crown of Thorns) Agave victoriae-reginae (Queen Victoria Agave) Articles (most accompanied by photos): March 2008 Seed-raising and soils by Colin Bundred My love affair with Haworthias by Gail Rankin Yes, cacti in Alberta! by Mike Gibbins June 2008 Grafting cacti by Colin Bundred Rhipsalidopsis rosea by Jack Hurt Sept Improve your cactus watering by Mike Gibbins Watch out for Giant Hogweed by Mike Gibbins Aloe vera by Joan Gouy My journey to winter-hardy cacti by Jean Wieprecht Happy sailing by Colin Bundred Dec Caudiciforms by Chris Peyton Mexican plants by Doug Grobel March 2009 It worked for me by Wayne Fuhr June 2009 A boy and his cactuses by Mike Gibbins Dec Growing ephiphyllums by Eigil Sorensen Orostachys spinosa in Edmonton by Jean Wieprecht March 2010 Don t touch it! by Jean Wieprecht June 2010 Cacti or cactuses? by Mike Gibbins June 2010 A rose is a rose is a cactus? by Jean Wieprecht & Mike Gibbins Not listed: News and events descriptions, President s messages, announcements, photo galleries (often extensive some of these interesting photos will be recalled in future issues), or the advice/buy/sell/trade column, which began in the March 2012 issue. Sept Rainy River Opuntias by Wayne Fuhr Invasive species by Mike Gibbins Dec Asclepiads by Mike Gibbins March 2011 ph level in your water by Mike Gibbins Seed sources by Mike Gibbins In search of the pink-flowered Opuntia fragilis by Rene Haasdyk Stranger than fiction by Mike Gibbins Cacti north of Grande Prairie by Mike Gibbins Sept Haworthia by Mary Scott Dec Cacti & succulents around the world, part 1 and March 2012 Cacti & succulents around the world, part 2 both by Mary Scott June 2012 How do I grow Mammillarias from seed? by Jean Wieprecht Sept The secret life of plants by Mike Gibbins March 2013 Our rather advanced favourite plants by Mike Gibbins 9