CACTUS CORNER NEWS. Fresno Cactus & Succulent Society http: Affiliated with the Cactus & Succulent Society of America

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1 CACTUS CORNER NEWS Fresno Cactus & Succulent Society http: Affiliated with the Cactus & Succulent Society of America Vol.23, No. 5 May 2014 NEXT MEETING: Thursday, May 1, 7:00 P.M. (Doors open 6:30 P.M.) Deaf & Hard of Hearing Service Center (DHHSC), 5340 North Fresno Street, Fresno PROGRAM: PRESENTED BY: Madagascar: the Plants, People and Places Wendell S. (Woody) Minnich Madagascar is a special place, an island in many respects, where the plants, people and animals are as unusual as anywhere in the world. This presentation will feature most of the succulent plants that we find so special and address its most fascinating people, the Malagasy, with their intriguing heritage from the Malaysian, Arabian and African regions. Also, their many wonderful landscapes and biological regions. Because this island is so isolated from the main continent of Africa, its endemism of plants and animals, estimated at 6,400 species, is also very remarkable. One could spend a lifetime roaming this special island and not see it all. The plants from Madagascar are considered to be most spectacular, especially the succulents, palms, orchids and carnivorous genera. The succulent plants include such spectacular genera as: Adansonia, Adenia, Alluaudia, Aloe, Commiphora, Cyphostemma, Didierea, Euphorbia, Kalanchoe, Moringa, Pachypodium, Senecio and Uncarina. There are genera of palms including the Travelers Palm, the giant noble blue palm Bismarkia noblis and the famous bottle palm Chrysalidocarpus deciepens. The orchid species total more than 1,000 and many are considered some of the most unusual in the world. The carnivorous plants range from the fascinating Pitcher plants (Nepenthaceae) to the amazing Droseras. It can be said that it is difficult to ignore Madagascar s tremendous diversity of plants, many of which are often growing side by side. Woody is most often associated with giving presentations, often internationally, on his field work from the places he has traveled, such as: Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Madagascar, Mexico, Namibia, New Zealand, Peru, Socotra, South Africa, the United States and Yemen. He has operated the nursery Cactus Data Plants since Woody and his wife, Kathy, live in New Mexico. He is a retired secondary school teacher of 32 years and is an honorary life member of nine C&S societies. With 42 years in the hobby and 44 years in the field, he has many experiences to share and numerous photos to show. Lets give Woody a warm welcome back to Fresno! Woody will have plants for you to purchase from his nursery. For More Information: Woody Minnich, Cactus Data Plant Plants 4 Vida Del Agua, Edgewood, NM ; cactusdata@msn.com, BJ s Brewhouse 715 East Shaw, Fresno, (559) Menu: DINNER Begins at 5:00pm Members are invited to attend Contact Rosanna Rojas by Wed., April 30, to make reservations. Phone: (559) rfrojas96@gmail.com

2 Fresno Cactus & Succulent Society Cactus Corner News May Page 2 FROM THE PREZ Hi, all, If you were able to go on all or part of our spring garden tour on April 12 th, I hope you had fun and were inspired to perhaps try something new in what you grow and how you place your plants. It was a beautiful day, and I want to thank again all those who were involved in the event. We have several events this month in which the club will participate. Or, rather, there are two parts to the same event. Friday evening, May 2 nd, the Friends of the Madden Library will present Smart gardens: how to be water wise in times of drought. John Valentino and Susan Stiltz will speak on transitioning traditional lawns to more drought- tolerant landscaping. Our club and several others have been asked to have an information table in conjunction with the program. The program begins at around 6 p.m. and is open to the public but you do need to RSVP, The following day, we will also have a booth at the Water- Wise Plant Event, 8 a.m. to noon, at the CSUF horticultural unit, NE corner of Barstow and Chestnut. I will be there to hand out information as well as free plants and cuttings. While I have been stockpiling these from my yard, I would be glad to accept any cuttings, etc., that any of you would like to donate. Before I forget it, we also had a table at the Clovis Botanical Garden Spring into Your Garden event at the end of March. I would like to thank Val McCullough and Paul Mitchell for helping staff our table. Others from our club were there also: Marian Orvis held down two tables, one for the Native Plant Society, the other for the Audubon Society; Madeleine Mitchell gave a presentation on succulents (she also helped Marian at the Native Plant Society table); Howard and Carol McLachlin were there for Fresno Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation; Ruth Saludes was one of the organizers of the event, which was notably better attended than had been true the previous year. It was a lot of fun and I want to recommend it to you for next year. We now turn our attention to our own Annual Show and Sale, June 7-8 at Sierra Vista Mall. Cindy Duwe is the Chair again this year and she will be looking to sign up members to assist with the event. You can help in any number of ways. Remember that we have a club sale table, selling donated plants, pots, books, etc. Your donations are welcome! A bit over a week ago our website was unavailable Bandwidth exceeded. Webmaster Vickie Veen said this came about because we had too many visitors. The Cactus- Mall, which hosts our domain, went ahead and doubled our bandwidth at no extra charge, which brought us back up right away. Vickie will monitor traffic to our site and if we exceed bandwidth again we need to consider paying for more. What with smart phones, tablets, and other electronic doodads, it stands to reason that we will be experiencing increased visitors to our website. See you at the meeting. Sue BOARD MEETING: Monday, May 5 th, 3733 N. Sierra Vista, Fresno; 6 p.m. The meeting is open to all members; board members are expected to attend. Club access: President, Sue Haffner, , sueh@csufresno.edu; Programs, Rosanna Rojas, , rfrojas96@gmail.com ; Treasurer, Robert Scott, , Rob_scott85@yahoo.com ; Editor, Sue Haffner, , sueh@csufresno.edu; Refreshments, Marian Orvis, , mforvet@comcast.net; Librarian, Madeleine Mitchell, , madeleine43@comcast.net; Webmaster, Vickie Veen, vickieveen@gmail.com; Sunshine, Carole Grosch, , cgg266@comcast.net.

3 Fresno Cactus & Succulent Society Cactus Corner News May Page 3 HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Fred Gaumer, Jennifer Meadows (2 nd ); Vickie Veen, Jack Loughmiller (5 th ); Valerie Kissler (7 th ); Tom Meyer (11 th ); Don Martin (15 th ); Ron Stebles (17 th ); Rebecca Lindquist (18 th ); Charlie Nelson (23 rd ); Madeleine Mitchell (28 th ). SAY HELLO TO THESE NEW MEMBERS: Thien- Vo, Fresno (Welcome back!) Cori Aunger, Fresno Visitors last month: Roger Michele, Thien- Vo and Ralph Perez. REFRESHMENT TABLE: Polly Dunklin, Mary Drumheller. Thanks to Susan and Karl for performing these duties last month. COMING EVENTS May 3, Water- Wise Plant Event; 8 a.m. to noon, Fresno State Horticultural Greenhouses, 3150 E. Barstow Ave. May 3-4, Sacramento Cactus & Succulent Society Show & Sale, Sacramento Garden Center, 3330 McKinley Blvd; hours, Sat., 9-5; Sun May 17, Santa Barbara Cactus & Succulent Society Show & Sale, Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, 909 N. La Cumbre Rd; hours, May 24-25, Central Coast Cactus & Succulent Society Show & Sale, Ludwick Community Center, San Luis Obsipo; hours, Sat., 10-5; Sun Paul Mitchell still has 6 sprinkler caps for use with soda bottles for providing a gentle watering for seeds and seedlings. Polly Hargreaves is now the editor of the Bakersfield club newsletter, and is doing a great job. Check it out: The Tephrocactus Study Group now has a website: EAT YOUR CACTUS: the May Sunset has an article, Nopales for newbies. Would someone be willing to help Fred by holding up the plants as he s discussing them? The audience would benefit by seeing the plants better (after all, Fred has to juggle the microphone, the list, his glasses, etc.) Talk to him at the next meeting if you d like to help. DISCOVERY CENTER: We received a request recently from a City College biology student who has taken on the Deutsch Cactus Garden as a volunteer project. Molida Chea is interested in mapping the garden and identifying the plants that are not currently identified. The Center apparently has a donor who will pay for new plant i.d. labels. I met with her last week and discussed the project with her and Mary Ellen Wright, the Discovery Center Director. The Deutsch Garden looks dry and in need of some care, in that it is currently without a curator. Ms. Wright is looking to hire a new individual for that job. Our club has a long history with both the Discovery Center and the Deutsch Garden, and I think we all hope that it will be well taken care of. If any members are interested in doing some volunteer work in the Garden, let me know. Sue

4 Fresno Cactus & Succulent Society Cactus Corner News May Page 4 APRIL BRAG TABLE: Fred had a lot of plants to discuss on the April Brag Table: Joyce Quinn brought xgasteraloe Green Ice, Mammillaria perezdelarosa, M. elongata and a gasteria dish garden. Mark Muradian displayed Gerrardanthus macrorhizus. Sue Haffner brought Echinocereus parkeri ssp gonzalezii and Turbinicarpus macrochele. Frank and Marian Orvis displayed a pelargonium (P. gibbosum, possibly). Fred Gaumer brought Ceraria namaquensis, Gasteria Hogwarts, Haworthia pygmaea argenteo- maculosa, H. limifolia striata, Escobaria alversonii, Gymnocalycium stellatum and Othonna herrei. Madeleine Mitchell displayed Uncarina decaryi (6 years old), and a pelargonium in a bonsai pot. Jack Fleming brought 4 different color forms of Euphorbia millii. Bill Gale showed Oroya minima, Pelargonium St Elmo s Fire, and a Lophophora. Val McCullough brought 3 aloes. CLUB WORKSHOP: the May workshop will be Wednesday, May 21 st, at 3733 N. Sierra Vista; 6 p.m. The subject will be Mammillarias. All members are more than welcome to attend. We had a great workshop in April, with members bringing in various monstrose plants for examination. The question arose: What s the difference between a crested plant and a monstrose one? With a crest, a single growing point elongates along a single axis, growing wider and wider, assuming a fan shape, sometimes curling in upon itself. In the case of monstrose growth, a number of different growing points are activated, each putting out growth according to its own logic. This can result in a twisted, lumpy plant, totally out of character to its normal form. The famous Fred, the monstrose form of Mammillaria bocasana, is a case in point. To read about these aberrant plant forms, see Teratopia by Gordon Rowley, in the club library.

5 Fresno Cactus & Succulent Society Cactus Corner News May Page 5 APRIL GARDEN TOUR Members and friends had a great time on Saturday, April 12 th, on our club s spring garden tour. We saw a lot of fabulous plants and acquired good ideas on plant growing and placement from our hosts. In Vickie Veen s city yard every bit of space has been organized efficiently to display her many potted specimens, all grouped by genus. One small greenhouse is full of Ariocarpus; the tylecodons are staged on tables under the trees; the white mammillarias have space in another greenhouse; pelargoniums and related genera are on shelves against the west side fence. The yard, itself, features raised beds for a variety of plants and flowers. Her side yard serves as her potting area. Everything was meticulously clean ( Just give me a month s notice, she said.) Not only do the plants have pride of place but there is also room for social activities, with shaded tables and chairs. The front yard is a heavily shaded outdoor living room, perfect for entertaining. It shows us what can be done with careful planning. Vickie s Garden After a drive east to Sanger, we visited Dennis and Silvia Anderson s country home. The front yard cactus beds feature specimen landscape cacti, including a spectacular monstrose/crested Cereus peruvianus. Dennis says the plants have survived freezing temperatures and that he rarely covers any of them. While they ve been in their home for sixteen years, the gardens are still works in progress, in that plants are still being added. Dennis has built a greenhouse and is propagating cacti and succulents from seeds and cuttings. His success is impressive. I can t throw a plant away, he says. (Continued on next page)

6 Fresno Cactus & Succulent Society Cactus Corner News May Page 6 Anderson s Garden continued. Then we backtracked to Ron and Charlene Stebles home on Herndon Avenue. There we saw their mature desert garden, which featured several blooming agaves, as well as the greenhouse which holds some nice specimen plants. The raised- bed vegetable garden was also on the tour. Refreshments were laid out on the large shaded patio, for which the tour participants were grateful. Stebles Garden We thank all the hosts very much for their generosity in opening their yards for our inspection, and Larry Homan for organizing the event. Sue

7 Fresno Cactus & Succulent Society Cactus Corner News May Page 7 EUPHORBIA GROENEWALDII This is one of the tuberous rooted euphorbias, similar to E. tortirama, but less robust. It was discovered in 1936 on stony hillsides near Pietersburg (now called Polokwane) in what was the northern part of the Transvaal (now Limpopo Province.) The discoverer, Dr. F. van der Merwe, named it for his friend B.H. Groenewald, who had written a number of papers on the genus Aloe. The species is known only from this small area, which is now rapidly changing as the city expands and suburbs spring up near it. It is rare enough that it has no common name among the indigenous people. In fact, it was lost for years, being absent from South African and other collections. A local conservation group is now working to protect the remaining plants in habitat. E. groenewaldii has a large swollen tuberous underground body which is composed of both root and stem tissue which rarely divides except in case of damage. In habitat the plants appear as five or six above- ground branches, spirally twisted and with prominent tubercles. Specimens rarely reach more than 10 cm. tall. (In cultivation it can grow taller.) It is very slow growing. Despite its rarity in habitat, the plant is readily available from commercial sources. Culture is the same as that for the other tuberous euphorbias, such as stellata or decidua. Care must be taken with watering and drainage. Propagation is by cuttings. (Illus: by Cynthia Letty from The succulent Euphorbieae (Southern Africa), by A. White, R.A. Dyer & B.L. Sloane, 1941.) MAMMILLARIA PEREZDELAROSAE By Elton Roberts You can say a lot about this mamm or that mamm, but you have to go a long way to find a prettier mamm than Mammillaria perezdelarosae. What a beauty! Snow white spines with white wool below them framed with the central hooked spines makes for a really great looking plant. It is a feast for the eyes! Those central spines start out black; as they grow they fade to a medium horn color at the base. Since the plant was described in 1985 it has become a favorite of a lot of mammillaria collectors. The plant in habitat will make a small clump or stay solitary for years. They will make heads up to 7 cm tall and to 4.5 cm in diameter. In cultivation you can expect any plant to offset and make a larger clump with taller heads. Habitat elevations of the plant are between 6,500 and 8,000 feet. For me the plants have taken temperatures of 20 F with no problems. Give them a fast draining soil that is on the acid side. I keep them dry over the winter, as I do not want to lose such a pretty plant. Flowers are produced several times a year. For me they are always light pink but the description calls for white flowers with a pink mid- stripe. (Other info: the plant is named for its discoverer, Jorge A. Perez de la Rosa of the Botanical Institute of the University of Guadalajara. It is native to restricted areas of Jalisco and Aguascalientes in non- calcareous rocks in live oak and pine forests, found in association with M. bombycina. The New cactus lexicon refers to it as a subspecies of bombycina, but those who have seen it in habitat disagree.)

8 Fresno Cactus & Succulent Society Cactus Corner News May Page 8 GETTING TO THE ROOT OF THE MATTER By Steve Plath (Steve wrote this for the Tucson club newsletter back in the 1990s; it still has information of interest. He is currently serving as Vice President of CSSA and is engaged professionally in arid land re- vegetation projects.) Ever wonder why one of your prize cacti, sitting peacefully on your bench, all of a sudden rots and/or dies in the spring when it, and everything else (like cacti in your yard and in habitat), should be bursting into growth with the coming of warmer temperatures? Consider a few things. The average cultural practice of succulent plant keepers is to have their plants dry in the winter (when most plants are dormant) and moist in the summer during active growth. This is usually effective and rather tried and true, however keep in mind that plants in habitat (and the yard) do not have their roots confined to just several square inches of soil in a pot, which is exposed to the air and even more rapid temperature and moisture variations than a plant in the ground would experience. Even small cacti in habitat have rather extensive root systems, which search out any accumulation of moisture that can be found, for instance under or around rocks. Also, not many plants experience a truly dry winter (dormant period) in the wild. Most areas of the Southwestern U.S. and Mexico receive some amount of precipitation during the winter months, when evaporative conditions are at the lowest. Here in the Mojave our primary wet season is during the winter, yet even in the Chihuahuan Desert far to the east, which is typically characterized by dry winters, it can and does occasionally receive winter rain. More than once have I stood in the Arizona desert, staring at cacti having just been drenched by a Pacific winter storm, freezing certain parts of my anatomy off, asking why don t you rot? Now this is not to say that everyone should run out and water their plants at the height of winter, because surely due to the unnatural state of plants cultivated in pots there will be some that rot. But you might also be surprised at how many don t, like those from the Mojave, which I think do benefit from some winter moisture. With all that in mind, now think about the roots of your plants. The typical plant- - I ll include cacti here- - has fibrous roots. These roots divide and branch over and over to produce this fibrous system. At the tips and at points along the roots are little rootlets that have root hairs. These root hairs allow the plant to take in moisture, air and nutrients for the plant to use. Root hairs can only grow and be produced in moist soil. When soil dries out to an extensive degree, root hair production stops. Remember, our plants are in their pots, bone dry for perhaps several months during the winter, so guess what? Not only is root hair production stopped but the ones that were there dry up! Fortunately that is one of the unique abilities of cactus to endure such treatment. Their adaptability is one factor that makes them so desirable. (Note: roots produced on cuttings are support roots, and can only grow for a period of time before they need moisture to produce root hairs!) So, come spring, start out slowly by sprinkling your plants lightly, just to moisten things a little and inspire the roots to become active, then gradually increase watering as the plants respond and temperatures warm. Too much of a good thing (i.e., water) too early, before the plant can use it, may be a cause of some rot problems. After awhile, if a plant doesn t show signs of growing when everything else is, pull it out of the pot and inspect the roots. You may find most or all of the roots dead and have to trim them back and re- root the plant, but in doing so you may be saving it before rot sets in!

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