Cereusly Speaking. Cactus and Succulent Society of Alberta. September 2015 Vol. 8 Issue 3. In this issue: albertacactusandsucculent.

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1 Cereusly Speaking September 2015 Vol. 8 Issue 3 Cactus and Succulent Society of Alberta In this issue: 2 Events this fall Message form the president 3 Summary of summer events Cacti for connoisseurs 4 Report on convention 5 Plant classification system 6 Repotting 7 Photo gallery Cactus of the season: Canada s Opuntia fragilis and the Sonoran Desert Opuntia fragilis is a hardy species, growing in various challenging situations almost everywhere in the West and into Ontario. There are native O. fragilis plants growing in the B.C. Gulf Islands, at Nanoose Bay on Vancouver Island, in many of the drier parts of interior B.C., way north in the Peace River country straddling B.C. and Alberta, in areas that are dry or otherwise unfriendly to other plants in the middle and south of Alberta, across southern Saskatchewan and Manitoba into Northern Ontario and even a few spots farther east in Ontario. It is the most northerly cactus species in the world. The accompanying flower photo is of a patch of O. fragilis north of Edmonton, blooming away in July O. fragilis doesn t require officially designated deserts but its range does overlap with that of one of North America s most famous deserts: the Sonoran. That desert is usually thought of as Mexican-Californian, but some argue that the more northern deserts in the U.S. (the Mojave and the Great Basin) are really just higher-altitude extensions of the Sonoran, as are deserts in eastern Oregon and Washington, which creep into B.C. in the southern Okanagan at Osoyoos. Under this definition, Keremeos, B.C., a nice town northwest of Osoyoos, is the farthest north extension of the Sonoran. And what do you know? There be O. fragilis there! The non-flower photo is of a large patch of O. fragilis on the highway a little to the west of Keremeos (thanks to Bernice & Fred van de Voort for finding them). Those cacti are not particularly known around Keremeos, so finding them is a challenge but that s probably a good thing for their survival. Let s celebrate the overlap between the Sonoran Desert and Canada s most widespread and northerly native cactus.

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 Vice-President Michael Barton Contact the society at: Cactus, St. Edmonton, AB T6J 5C4 or melocact@gmail.com Coming up this fall Coming off a busy summer (more about that below), here are some events to put in your calendar for this fall: Sunday, September 27: The Society s annual show and sale at the Muttart Conservatory in Edmonton s river valley, 10:00 am to 5:00 pm. Cactuses and succulents for sale or display are always needed, as well as folks to staff the tables and charm the visiting public with enthusiasm about our favourite plants. Please try to join in at Muttart, even for just an hour or two! If you can t make it but have plants for sale or display, please contact any of the officers shown in this page s sidebar. Also, any unsold plants or display plants have to be picked up from Muttart by 5:00, or even a bit sooner. Sunday, October 18: The next general meeting, again to be at the Strathcona Library, Sherwood Park. There is underground parking, accessed from the south side of the building, useful in case of inclement weather. This will be a very interesting meeting, with the voting on the photo contest (112 great photos this year!), some cactus/succulent videos, the usual show & tell and door prizes and, as was very enjoyable last year, some catered food for the coffee break. A video monitor will be used to display the photos so that they are as crisp and colourful as possible. Sunday, November 29: The annual Christmas party, 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm at the latest, again at the abc Country Restaurant in the Holiday Inn, 4485 Gateway Boulevard, Edmonton. It will feature the usual exchange of gifts among those who wish to participate (modest unidentified gifts), lots of fun and conversation, door prizes, and whatever you would like to order for dinner. Again the Society will provide a subsidy to everyone attending. The party will start with the gift exchange and end with dinner. No problem if you have to arrive late or leave early. Message from the President Hello everybody. Well we haven t had a frost yet but we know it s just around the corner. The summer has been excellent and I hope you have enjoyed the many events we held. There is just one more to go, the annual fall open house at the Muttart Conservatory. This is our biggest chance to showcase both our plants and our club. And we may even make a little money as well! We are always looking for volunteers to man the booth for a couple of hours so please plan on helping out if you can. I promise that you will enjoy it! Colin Welcome! Welcome to new members Patricia Bachleitner and Nick Dobish! Another interesting cactus source Colin recommends this online journal. It s been mentioned before, but no harm in a reminder! It s the Cactus Explorers Journal, Or for a recent issue, you could go straight to Cactus%20Explorer%20 14_complete.pdf#page33. 2

3 Cereusly Speaking Publisher The Cactus and Succulent Society of Alberta Editor Mike Gibbins 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. Cactus and Succulent Society of Alberta Summer events Since the June newsletter was sent around, we ve had a busy summer. Photos from some of the events are in the Photo Gallery. Briefly, here s what happened: On June 14-19, Colin Bundred represented the Society at the convention of the Cactus & Succulent Society of America in California. See his report about the convention elsewhere in this newsletter. On June 21, we had a field trip to the Drumheller area on June 21. Lots of blooming Opuntias and Escobarias. Thanks to Rene Haasdyk and George Grozev for organizing the day. On June 27, the Society participated in the annual conference of the Alberta Horticultural Association in Edmonton. Thanks to Colin Bundred and Mike Gibbins for staffing a table there. On June 28, a very hot day, we had a tour of several members collections. Thanks to Michael Barton, Mike Gibbins, Rene Haasdyk and Jean & John Wieprecht for hosting the tour. On July 4, some members paid a visit to the Gibbons cactus prairie north of Edmonton, seeing lots of Opuntial fragilis in bloom and even finding a few cypress cone fossils. On July 26, Frank Cheple hosted a visit to the Alice MacKinnon development greenhouse and the show pavilion at Devonian Botanic Gardens west of Edmonton. Very interesting plants, and some attendees also checked out Devonian s revised garden of hardy cacti. In late July and early August, several members visited Jean Wiprecht s named and highly regarded winter-hardy collection of Opuntias and bought some to take home, because Jean & John are planning to move and will have to leave behind any collection that is left. On August 23, the annual general meeting was held at Colin Bundred s house. Lots of time to see his extensive collection and enjoy the afternoon potluck. Thanks to Colin and his daughter Kylee for hosting the event and to Betty Gibbins for organizing the potluck. The weather was beautiful, and attendees took home many door prizes and other plants! At the AGM, a slate of officers (the Executive) was elected for the two years President Colin Bundred, Vice President Michael Barton, Treasurer Rene Haasdyk and Secretary Mike Gibbins. The meeting thanked Olga Mikheenkova for her many years of service on the executive. Mike and Olga will carry on with the newsletter, and Michael Barton and Nicole Lancaster will help Olga with our online presence. Finally, August 31 saw the deadline for photo contest entries. A very impressive group of photos came in. Cacti for connoisseurs by Colin Bundred This is another in the occasional series about Colin s favourite plants, this time Astrophytum asterias Super Kabuto. Astrophytum asterias is a small round spineless plant, native to northern Mexico and southeastern Texas. It is, in its own right, a wonderful species to have. However in the last thirty years or so Japanese enthusiasts have extensively hybridized this species and succeeded in producing some exceedingly beautiful and at times somewhat bizarre plants. One of the most beautiful and unique is the form known as Super Kabuto. As can be seen by the accompanying photograph, the plant is distinguished from the normal Astrophytum asterias by an epidermis that is almost completely covered in a series of white dots of many differing shapes and sizes. The results can be extremely beautiful. The patterns are endless and like snowflakes, no two plants are exactly the same. In Japan and increasingly in the rest of the cactusgrowing world, whole collections are now devoted to these and other forms. As with most Astrophtums, growth is slow, and care needs to be taken with the watering can. On the plus side though, these plants are small, take up little room and delight the owner with a regular display of beautiful, freely produced flowers. As you will see online, these gems are not inexpensive and some of the more sought-after plants command mind-boggling prices. To take a peek into the burgeoning world of the sea urchin cactus and other Astrophytums, please follow this link: 3

4 Colin s report on the June Cactus & Succulent Society of America convention The CSSA biannual convention was held June this year in Claremont, California. In an effort to make the event more affordable for members, there was a break with tradition the conference was held not in the usual hotel and convention centre setting, but in an actual college. Pitzer College is one of the Claremont Colleges group and the director of the Arboretum at Pitzer is Joe Clements, a long time member of the CSSA. Joe has completely revamped the grounds at Pitzer, turning them into a virtual succulent wonderland. The opening banquet was held outdoors in that mecca for succulent lovers, the Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens. The daily programs, as usual, featured well-known experts from around the world lecturing on their travels or their particular area of interest. Some presentations were rather technical in nature but in general most of the ones that I attended were well balanced and kept in mind the broad range of expertise amongst the audience. Succulents ruled the day, in that there were only a few specialist cactus topics discussed. Which is really I suppose a reflection of the enormous surge in popularity of " other succulents" around the world. One day of the conference was set aside for field trips and I again decided on the Huntington, followed up in the afternoon by a visit to the Los Angeles Arboretum. The Arboretum had some nice garden areas dedicated to succulent plants from throughout the world but it rather pales in comparison to its world-renowned neighbour. One of the special events which is always fun was the Rare Plant auction. It's rather eye opening to see the extent to which collectors will go to obtain a coveted specimen. This year s champ sold for just under $1000! Not to me, I might add. Unfortunately I was unable to attend the closing banquet as I had succumbed to a heavy cold brought about no doubt by constant exposure to 100F temperatures intermingled with an hour or two of ice cold air conditioning. So, what was the general impression, was the non-conventioncentre experiment a success? Well, I thought the college setting was great. No problems with downtown parking, a very relaxing and laid back feel to the conference, and the grounds, well they were just outstanding and a constant source of picture taking, as well as the odd seed pod here and there. I didn't stay at the college, opting for a nearby motel instead, but from conversations with delegates who did, the accommodations rated as adequate, the food rather less so. The lecture hall was just about able to handle the delegates, although for some of the more popular presentations it was standing room only. Not the best for my ageing bones! The plant sales area was also a little underwhelming. It didn't help matters to be constantly reminded that the really big sale was taking place at the Huntington in a couple of weeks time and to "make sure that I didn't miss it". Easy when you live in the Los Angeles area, not so much so when you've travelled from the four corners of the world. All in all, though, another wonderful experience. I even had the pleasure of being pulled over by one by one of Claremont's finest astride a very snazzy Harley Davidson motorcycle. He politely informed me that I was going 10mph over the speed limit and on hearing that I was from out of town told me that the rather modest motel where I was staying was one of their regular calls on a Friday night! I was somewhat disappointed when I checked out Saturday morning to find that the only excitement had been a busload of Chinese tourists who apparently had been short one room. Maybe next time! Meantime, see my photos of the Pitzer College grounds. 4

5 Michael Barton on the plant classification system he is developing Michael demonstrated his computerbased plant classification system on a monitor connected to his laptop, and with handouts. The attached photo (taken by Bernice van de Voort) shows him with a demonstration plant onscreen. He started the system as a way of identifying his plants without the need for dissection or other invasive methods. The system is still an early draft it will take a few years to finish, and advice from other cactus fanciers who try it out will be helpful. It handles only cactuses at present, but in principle should be suitable for other succulents as well. The idea is to build a database so that anyone using the system can input as much as the person knows about a plant and get an identification. Because criteria are unlikely to fit exactly, the output is a list of possible plants that more or less fit the description entered. Each listed plant shows the proper name, a percentage match, a confidence rating, and a photo of a sample plant. For example, Mammillaria matudae, 90% criteria matched, 80% confidence, photo of one in bloom. The percentage match is based on how closely the entered criteria fit a specific plant. The more criteria are entered and used to search the database, the higher the confidence. This list of possible matches is sorted from the most likely to the least. Just some of the features being built into the system so far include: stem shape, leaves (if any), main stem diameter, stem colour, skin texture, number of ribs (if any), habit, spine configuration, number and type of spines, areole details, flower location, dominant petal colour, flower shape and size, and fruit details. Within each feature are numerous choices, such as a flower colours and stem shapes. Also, this system should work to identify both juvenile and adult plants. Though this seems daunting, the idea is simplicity the user just answers the system s questions and sits back as the system works through all the permutations. Even if the user doesn t know the answer to all the questions, perhaps hasn t seen a flower yet or isn t sure about the areoles, the system will still provide the best match for what the user does know. And if the match percentage or confidence is low, there is an incentive to gather and input more information, such as after a flower finally appears! Summary of two talks: At the May 31 meeting, we had two interesting talks, with demonstrations accompanying both. 5

6 Colin Bundred on repotting In general, cacti are pretty easy plants to care for. They won't curl up and die if you forget to water them for a month or so. But in order to thrive and grow well they do need repotting on a regular basis. How do you know when a plant needs repotting? The first sign is when a plant has obviously outgrown its pot. The second is when an otherwise healthy looking plant has stopped putting on any new growth. The third reason is when a plant is looking sickly, usually indicating a problem with the root system. In most cases, a pot the next size up is chosen, especially with a smaller plant. Too big a pot can retain the moisture longer, leading to root rot. For this demonstration, I have used a fairly large specimen of Notocactus leninghausii, growing in a six inch pot. This plant, although looking healthy enough had stopped growing and flowering. I knew it was root bound. It was in a clay pot and when I tried to de-pot the plant it wouldn't budge. The roots had stuck like glue to the inside of the pot. I was finally able to slip a thin bladed knife down the sides and ease the plant out. I was tempted to take the easy way out and smash the pot with a hammer, but it was a nice pot and not cheap! See the photo of the plant out of its pot. As this plant was starting to cluster quite prolifically and had a strong root system, I decided on quite a large replacement pot, in this case a blue glazed "pot bellied " pot. Possibly not the best choice, as when the time comes to repot, the hammer will be the only way to go. It does look nice though and will accommodate this plant for at least 5 years. Of course, being glazed, the pot will not dry out as quickly as an unglazed one, so watering will have to be reduced. The drainage hole of the new pot needs to be covered in such a way as to let the water drain out but retain the potting medium. This is easily accomplished with broken bits of pottery, insect screen or weed (landscape) cloth. Now for the new potting medium. As long as the medium is fast draining, almost anything will do. There are lots of proprietary mixes on the market especially formulated for cacti. These are fine, especially if you add a little extra perlite. They are expensive though if you are repotting a lot of plants. Enthusiasts usually make up their own, one that they have had the greatest success with. For this demonstration, I used something that I've had success with over the last few years. Kitty litter! That's right, basic non-clumping, non-scented kitty litter. This is actually fired clay and has the ability to absorb moisture from the immediate root zone but still have it available when required by the plant. Very similar Summary of two talks: At the May 31 meeting, we had two interesting talks, with demonstrations accompanying both. to perlite. Of course, with this medium and most proprietary mediums, there are no nutrients present. You can either add time-release pellets or feed with weak liquid fertilizer when watering. In this demonstration, I filled the pot to about a third full. This plant was very root-bound so I had to tease the roots loose with the aid of a dental pick. This encourages the roots to branch out in to the new medium. The plant was then centred into the new pot and the rest of the medium added to within a half inch of the top of the pot. This leaves room to water. It's also important to make sure the plant is at the same depth as before. See the photo of the plant in its new pot. After the demonstration, the plant was now left for a week or so to ensure any root damage healed before its first watering. The most important tool used during this exercise was a pair of tongs. These are essential when repotting cacti. A dental pick is also handy to tease out the roots of root bound plants. 6

7 Photo gallery Thanks to everyone who provided the photos in this gallery! From Kathy Stamatelakis, a photo taken in Greece (cacti are worldwide now!). From Stefan Gibbins, a photo of a huge Sedum morganium ( Donkey s Tail ) taken in Mexico City. From Bert Hendriksen, a Geohintonia mexicana cristate that he seeded in From Colin Bundred, a Turbinocarpus in his collection. Cactusy scenes photographed by Bernice van de Voort on her and Fred s travels. 7

8 Photo gallery: our summer events Beautiful flowers brought in by members to the May 31 meeting (photos by Bernice van de Voort). Our display at the June 27 annual convention of the Alberta Horticultural Society (photo by Colin Bundred Jean and John Wieprecht in early August as she was selling some of her collection and regretting losing favourite plants (photo by Mike Gibbins). 8

9 Flower photos from the July 26 outing to Devonian Botanic Gardens and the Alice MacKinnon development greenhouse (by Mike Gibbins). A few of Colin Bundred s cacti plus the smoky barbecue at the August 23 annual general meeting (photos by Bernice van de Voort). 9

10 Flower photos from the June 28 collections tour (some by Bernice van de Voort, some by Mike Gibbins). 10