8:15-8:30 am Meet at the CSU garden at the Mesa County Fairgrounds. Take time to look at the CSU Cactus and Succulent Garden.

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1 Succulent Morsels News of the Chinle Cactus & Succulent Society September 2016 Vol. 8, No. 9 To promote knowledge, enjoyment, cultivation, and conservation of cacti and other succulent plants among its members, other individuals and organizations throughout West-Central Colorado SEPTEMBER ACTIVITY - REPLACES SEPTEMBER REGULAR MEETING! 2016 CHINLE GARDEN TOUR This year s garden tour will feature gardens established and newly created. The itinerary for the tour is shown here. Detailed driving instructions and a map will be distributed before we leave. 8:15-8:30 am Meet at the CSU garden at the Mesa County Fairgrounds. Take time to look at the CSU Cactus and Succulent Garden. Arrange for carpooling. Use public toilets if needed (CSU office is closed). 8:45 am Leave the Fairgrounds and drive to Kenton Seth s parents home in Clifton. Kenton has developed crevice gardens there and also a natural area in front. He will have available provided plant lists and a narrative of the history of his work there. We ll spend about 20 minutes there. Examples of what you might see at the Seth s home. 9:25 am Leave the Seth s and drive to Dr. Tom Towner s garden on 26-1/2 Rd to arrive at about 9:45 am. Tom has owned this property for 30 years, and gradually created a cactus & succulent/ rock garden, hauling and distributing the gravel and plantings primarily by himself. Tom s work was halted by severe lung disease, requiring a double lung organ transplant a couple of years ago. He is now going strong. Tom says anyone who would like cuttings to feel free to take them from any of his plants. Tom & his wife are celebrating their 45th wedding anniversary in France in September, and won t be at home Dr. Tom in his garden.

2 during their tour segment. We will spend about 20 minutes here. 10:05 am Leave Dr. Towner s and drive to Bill & Janet s house/garden arriving at about 10:10 am. Bathroom stop!! The Hassell s have lived here 5-1/2 years and started this garden from scratch. All the cacti were obtained from members, from garden cuttings, or plant drawings at Society meetings. The yuccas were purchased as well as the columnar Buckthorn, Blue Mist Spirea, Ground Cherry, Apache Plume & other landscape plants. We will spend about 20 minutes here. 10:30 am Leave the Hassell s and drive to Don Campbell s on Link Lane to arrive at about 11 am. We will spend about minutes here. Don s garden is very new, having moved to this subdivision just a few years ago. It looks like he has a good start, and enjoys having a good place outdoors for plants. Unfortunately his house does not have adequate light for many of his indoor plants.!2

3 11:20 am Leave Don Campbell s and drive to Kathy Murdocks on Canyon Rim Drive about 11:25 am. 11:45 am Leave Murdock s and drive to the Math & Science Center, arriving about noon. We included this stop on our tour because we know many of our members might not have otherwise been able to see the Cactus & Succulent display at the Center. We will spend about minutes here. 12:25 pm Leave the M&S Center and return to the Fairgrounds for brown bag lunch at the picnic area north of the parking area to arrive about 12:30 pm. The Society will provide water, but bring your preferred beverage if you desire something else and your lunch!. PLEASE LET SHARI SKEIE KNOW IF YOU WILL BE JOINING US ON THE TOUR SO WE DON T LEAVE YOU BEHIND THAT MORNING! HER PHONE IS & shariskeie@yahoo.com THE CHINLE PHOTOGRAPHIC SCAVENGER HUNT DEADLINE IS SEPTEMBER 30TH FOR PHOTO SUBMISSION - BE CREATIVE!!! Eligible Photos are those taken between Jan. 1, and Sept. 30, Only one entry per category per member Submit unframed prints 5 x 7 or smaller ON THE FRONT of the photo include a title ON THE BACK of the photo include member s name and the category of the photo (as listed here) Submit photo prints (not digital files) to Don Campbell by Sept. 30 Judging will be done by Club members at the October meeting Winners will be recognized in the Club newsletter!3

4 AUGUST GARDENERS ARE BUSY! Chinle gardeners, Tom Burrows, Don Campbell, Janet & Bill Hassell, Deb Mallory, Walt Scheer, and Kate Weissenburger, trimmed and tidied the WC Botanical Garden on Saturday, August 6th. The grounds had been nicely watered, which made weeding much easier. We moved some rocks from Ernies s former garden and placed them in the main garden. Above, Deb tackles spines in her ankle & shoe, Tom B. and Lois D., tackle weeds, spurge & grass. On the other hand after working hard, Walt, tackles, well!4

5 On August 20th, Chinle gardeners Maryann & Lauren Benoit, Tom Burrows, Don Campbell, Lois Davidson, Janet & Bill Hassell, Deb Mallory, Walt Scheer, Kate Weissenburger and guest, Mike Lobato, tackled the weeds and wasps at the CSU Extension Garden. Thanks to all our willing volunteers!!! Walt: Anyone need an elm tree? Tom comes through again with his trusty shop vac! Maryann welcomes new member, Mike Lobato, to the party L-R, Kate W., Lois D., Deb M., & Mike L. take a break Lizard Louie makes a cameo appearance. at the party But, hey Don, don t look so shocked! Just share your donut with the little feller!!5

6 PLANT OF THE MONTH: Phemeranthus calycinus & confertifloris (aka Large flowered Flame Flower/Rock Pink) Text & photos Contributed by Don Campbell Phemeranthus calycinus From Don Campbell s garden Phemeranthus calycinus, large-flowered fame flower aka, large-flowered rock pink is one of my favorite succulent plants. I originally bought P. calycinus over 20 years ago from High Country Gardens. It only blooms on hot, sunny afternoons in mid to late summer. It s easily propagated from cuttings. In autumn the succulent leaves die back, leaving a perennial, tuberous root to over-winter. One needs to be careful not to damage the tuberous root when doing maintenance and fall clean-up in the garden. An interesting aside. Recently I had to stop one of our most experienced Chinle Gardeners, who was unfamiliar with this plant, from cutting off all of the flower stalks during a July mid-morning garden party. Since it only blooms on hot, sunny afternoons in mid to late summer, in the morning the flower stalks look like they should be dead-headed. P. confertiflorus Don Campbell s garden Phemeranthus confertiflorus is a much smaller cousin that is native to western Colorado. About years ago, Carol spotted a small colony of the plant during a hike in the vicinity of the Little Park Road. I collected a single plant and added it to my C&S Garden on Avenal Ln. It soon began spreading and I transplanted one or two plants to the WCBG garden where it s become almost weedy. These photos were taken on 8/1/16 at about 6:15PM when the flowers finally begin opening. The flowers don t open until late afternoon during the heat of summer. Flowers are only about 1/4 inch in diameter. For comparison the Largeflowered fame flower has a diameter of about 3/4 inch. As you can see, the color is a very delicate, light pink. The overall height of the large-flowered plant (from ground to top of flower stalk) is about 12 inches ±, while overall height of the smallflowered plant is about 2 inches ±. Everything else about this little cutie is very similar to the large flowered plant. Contrasting size differences between P. confertiflorus (L) & P. calycinus (R) (Don Campbell s garden, ) Anyone interested in adding this plant to their garden can easily dig one or two out of the WCBG garden. Stem cuttings of the large flowered plant can be obtained from me just ask. (Don shares that the following descriptive material is straight from the internet:) Large-Flowered Rock Pink Phemeranthus calycinus Purslane family (Portulacaceae) Description: This perennial wildflower produces ascending stems 2-6" long that branch occasionally. These stems are surrounded by finger-like leaves that are ascending to widely spreading; the stems are light green, glabrous, and succulent. The leaves are up to 3" long, terete in cross-section, and succulent; they are green to blue-gray and!6

7 glabrous. Occasionally, the upper stems produce cymes of flowers on long slender stalks (peduncles); these stalks are 4-10" long. Each cyme is open and widely spreading (up to 12" across); its branching structure is dichotomous or trichotomous. Pairs of tiny lanceolate bracts occur along the branches of each cyme. Usually, each cyme has about 5-50 flowers, although poorly developed cymes may have fewer flowers than this. Each flower spans about 1" across, consisting of 5 petals, 2 sepals, stamens, and a pistil with a single slender style. The widely spreading petals are deep rose pink and well-rounded, while the sepals are light green to membranous and ovate to oval-orbicular in shape. The petals are much longer than the sepals. The style of each flower is about twice the length of the stamens; there is a knobby stigma at the end. P. calicinus blooms in Don s garden, ) The blooming period occurs intermittently during the summer for 1-3 months; sometimes several flowers bloom at the same time. The flowers open on sunny days during the early afternoon for about 2 hours; individual flowers last only a single day and they lack fragrance. Each fertile flower is replaced by a seed capsule that is up to 1/3" (8 mm.) in length; it is ovoid-globoid in shape, and divides into 3 parts to release the tiny seeds inside. Individual seeds are about 1 mm. in length; they are reniform and flattened in shape with smooth outer surfaces. The seeds are small enough to be blown about by the wind. The root system consists of a thickened taproot with fibrous secondary roots. Cultivation: The preference is full sun, dry conditions, and soil that is rocky, gravelly, or sandy. This species is adaptable to a sunny rock garden and it is intolerant of competition from tall aggressive plants. Comments: Other common names include Large Flower-of-an-Hour and Flame-Flower. The flowers are beautiful, but short-lived. BEAUTIFUL AGAVES IN POWELL GARDENS STORY & PHOTOS CONTRIBUTED BY DEB MALLORY These are pictures of the hypertufa pots at Powell Gardens, where I visited in June. Powell Gardens is located in Kingsville, Missouri - approximately 30 miles southeast of Kansas City. It is a lovely setting...green rolling hills with their perennial gardens, water garden, educational buildings and visitor center, demonstration and harvest gardens, all scattered through the landscape to entice visitors to keep strolling. The hypertufa pots of succulents surrounded the water lily pond - it's an artful pairing of all those water-thrifty plants right next to so much water.!7

8 SO HOW DO THEY DO THAT? Harvesting seeds from sclerocactus seed pods can be a real challenge because when you pick off the fruit, the seeds stay behind in the spines or sprinkle onto the ground. However, Tom Burrows has developed a unique method for harvesting seeds by using the Super Solder Sucker Seed Sucker procedure. He uses a device (a solder sucker) designed to dismantel electrical solder joints after melting the solder and then sucking it out with a spring loaded suction tube. The tube is cocked as shown in the photo above. To activate it, he presses the button and the spring comes back forcefully creating a vacuum effect in the tube that sucks the tiny seeds into the tube. The nozzle unscrews and the seeds can be dumped out seeds contained for later use. (Sclerocacti seeds are better if they have aged for a couple years.) Tom says he initially used a turkey baster to do the procedure, but the opening was too large(even with an adapter) and the baster moved a lot. The Solder Sucker is easy to control and contains the seeds nicely. Way to think outside the box, Tom!!8

9 A MONSTER.BUG! Tom Burrows sends us this item: If you find a flying monster with the wingspan of a large butterfly outside your house at night that looks like this and are wondering what it is (and wondering if it will hurt you), it's a Texas Dobsonfly (Corydalus texanus). I found this 2.5" cutie pie on the patio. Not counting moths and butterflies, this is one of the largest and most imposing insects in the U.S. The larvae, known as hellgrammites, live in rivers for a couple of years before emerging and pupating into adults, which live for only a few days. This one presumably came from the Colorado River, which is a few miles away. Hellgrammites are popular with anglers as live bait. Dobsonflies are considered harmless, though females, like the one shown here, can bite hard enough to draw blood if molested. The males have long tusks, which are not useful for biting. Read more here: (Not the actual size of 2.5 inches - photo by Tom Burrows)!9

10 IF YOU CAN T FIND A LAMP YOU LIKE, JUST BUILD ONE! and that s exactly what Jeff Brimley did! Here s are some photos he shared of his creativity and ingenuity! Jeff says Hi, I ve wanted a Lamp for my Living Room, but I couldn t find anything that I liked. So, I decided to make one. I don t know, what style it is. Steam Punk? Industrial? I used my new tubing roller to make the boom arm. The chrome faucet is the on/off switch. Jeff!10

11 ON THE LIGHTER SIDE Seen in Limon, CO, in July, Check out the wings in the back! CALENDAR OF EVENTS -September - Dec Note regarding Garden Parties: Since September is usually cooler, the starting time for Garden Parties is 9 am. However, feel free to come earlier if the heat persists. Sept. 6 Sept. 10 Sept 17 Chinle Board meeting, 6:30 pm - Note meeting is on Tuesday due to Labor Day Janet & Bill Hassell s Home 2666 Summer Hill Ct, Grand Junction, CO Garden Party, Saturday, WC Botanical Garden - from 9-11 am Fall Garden Tour - (replaces Regular Meeting of the Chinle C&SS) 8:30 am - Meet at the CSU Garden, Mesa County Fairgrounds Program: Local Garden Tour (see description on pages 1-3)!11

12 Sept. 21 Garden Party, Wednesday, CSU Garden - from 9-11 am Oct. 3 Chinle Board meeting, 6:30 pm Janet & Bill Hassell s Home 2666 Summer Hill Ct, Grand Junction, CO Oct. 8 Garden Party, Saturday, WC Botanical Garden - from 9-11 am Oct. 13 Regular Meeting of the Chinle C&SS 6:30 pm Program: Photo Scavenger Contest event Location: Western Colorado Botanical Garden Library Oct. 22 Final Garden Party for 2016, Saturday, CSU Garden - from 9-11 am Oct 29 Don Campbell to present program at the Colorado National Monument Visitor Center, 2 pm, Cacti, etc, Along the Old Gordon Trail Nov. 7 Chinle Board meeting, 6:30 pm Janet & Bill Hassell s Home 2666 Summer Hill Ct, Grand Junction, CO Nov. 10 Dec. 5 Regular Meeting of the Chinle C&SS 6:30 pm Program: The Benoits present their Cuba travelogue Location: Western Colorado Botanical Garden Library Chinle Board meeting, 6:30 pm Janet & Bill Hassell s Home 2666 Summer Hill Ct, Grand Junction, CO Dec. 8 ANNUAL DINNER MEETING - Bookcliff Country Club 2016 Chinle Cactus and Succulent Society Board President: Janet Hassell Secretary: Deb Mallory Treasurer: Lisa Hamilton Vice President: Kate Weissenburger Garden Activities Coordinator: Member at Large: Walt Scheer Lois Davidson Program Committee: Shari Skeie Web Master: Tom Burrows Newsletter Editor: Janet Hassell Don Campbell Past President: Maryann Benoit Chinle Cactus and Succulent Society usually meets the 2 nd Thursday of each month at 6:30 pm. Meetings are held in the Western Colorado Botanical Garden Library, 641 Struthers Ave., Grand Junction, CO. Guests are always welcome. Chinle Mailing Address: Chinle Cactus & Succulent Society, PO Box 233, Grand Junction, CO CHINLE C&SS WEBSITE: