GEMS OF THE DESERT THE NEWSLETTER OF THE ORANGE COUNTY CACTUS AND SUCCULENT SOCIETY next meeting: Thursday, May 26 th, 2005, 7:30 pm CLUB OFFICERS: President: Gene Schroeder (714) 637-8192 Treasurer: Cliff Meng (714) 870-4887 Vice President Programs: Stephania Langle (714) 901-3933 VP Excursions: Kathy McNair (714) 534-4477 Show Chairs: Gene Schroeder, Joe Bearden (562) 698-1346 Website and Collections, Daiv Freeman online occss.org Secretary: Lori Coxe (562) 921-4615; Newsletter Tim Nomer (714) 318-9323; color PDF emailed to members on request: Hello Members and all interested Persons Welcome to this OCCSS Newsletter; This month s Program: May 26 th : Mark Muradian on Chile s Copiapoas, slides from his recent visit. An 18 year member of Fresno C&S, he has the largest collection of C&S in the area, and is a farmer growing peaches, grapes... Mark also makes and sells pottery. These neat cactus from South America make great show plants. Some have large yellow or white flowers. They grow impressively large in the Chilean Atacama desert, where in some spots there has never been recorded rain. This is likely to be your only chance to see this neat talk from an out of area speaker who sounds incredibly interesting. This month s Plants of the month:. South American and Chilean Cacti, including Copiapoa, ephiphytic cacti; Succulents of South America (including the succulent bromeliads like Dyckia, Hectia, Puya) As usual if you have that plant you just have to share as it is pretty, or in flower or rare, or you have identification questions or problems with pests or disease, bring it along for our discussion table. ORANGE COUNTY CACTUS & SUCCULENT SOCIETY GENERAL MEETING INFORMATION When: The society meets on the fourth Thursday during the months January thru October. Call for November and December dates. Refreshments and camaraderie begin at 7pm. The meeting starts promptly at 7:30. Where: The auditorium of the First Presbyterian Chuch, 11832 Euclid St, Garden Grove, CA. It is on the East side of Euclid, just north of Chapman and south of Orangewood. If you are driving south on Euclid, take the fourth left turn lane south of Orangewood. If driving north from the 22 freeway, the church is on the right just after Euclid narrows to two lanes. Use 2 nd driveway, on north side of church. What happens? The program consists of a talk or demonstration by a recognized expert on some aspect of succulent plants. Other activities include a business meeting, discussion of the member s plant table (plants that are interesting, blooming or in trouble), including answers to questions by members and guests, sale of plants and related items, plant raffle, check out & return books from the club library. Admission: None, It s free!!! Who may come: Everyone interested in Cacti and or other succulents welcome.
Future Meeting Schedule / OC Club events: 2005 Meeting Speakers List (subject to change) May 26: Mark Muradian on Chile Copiapoa; See these plants grow huge in habitat of the famous Atacama desert Mark lives in Laton near Fresno. He is a farmer. He grows peaches, plums, grapes and nectarines. His love for succulents is a hobby. Very huge hobby. He has a largest collection of succulents in the Fresno area. He has all kinds of succulents including huge barrel Cactus, Saquaro, Yucca all kind of columnar cactus and many others. He is not too fond of small succulents like for example Lithops. Mark belongs to Fresno club for approx. 18 years and currently he is a vice president and a program chair. Mark traveled twice in search of succulents: to Yemen in 2001 and to Chile in August and Sept. 2004. This presentation is a result of his trip to Chile. Mark also makes and sells pottery. I believe I saw a large Euphorbia lactea in one of his pots at a South Coast CSS show once, very nice custom pottery. Additional 2005 Meeting & OC Events Info: June 23: July 28: Aug 25: Sept 22 nd : Petra Crist on Namibia scenery and plants; We loved previous talk on mountains, plants, parks of Africa Michael Buckner Landscaping with Succulents; Mike s show plants are stunning, has SD plant business Tim Nomer Unusual Show Plants and Highlights; I m pulling out most unusual from my 78,000+ pix; I showed about half of the talk in a shortened 20 minute version at San Diego CSS on May 14 th. Tim Jackson on Conophytums; A grower with a huge collection of these hard to grow plants, who shares them with us by displaying at shows, also 2004 president of SGVCSS; Other meeting dates, speakers TBA: Oct 27 th Upcoming local & regional club events: June 4,5 th : San Diego C&SS Summer Show & sale, Balboa Park 619-477-4779 see flyer on last page; When I was down there for May meeting, Jurgen was stretching a shade cloth across the whole sale area so sale plants won t burn and vendors won t have to move plants inside Sat. nite. You won t see awards on tags if you go Saturday, as they decided to open show early Saturday morning, and do judging Saturday night instead. They are also adding workshops on plant culture and photography to make the show more interactive. Rose garden is in full bloom across the street, next to the Balboa Park cactus garden. The Botanical Building with carnivorous plants, cacti display, bromeliads, orchids, & other tropicals, and a scented plants display will be open till 4 daily. If you like art, the Timken museum is free, nearby, and has classical paintings. Last week there was an handmade crafts festival in the Spanish Artists Village, which was fun to walk around. Alcazar garden is just behind the Mingei museum which has a gigantic interactive lizard covered in multi-colored glass beads that you can climb on (woops, I mean your kids can climb on:). If you get there early, you won t have to park in the SD Zoo s vast lot. July 1,2,3 CSSA Annual Show & Sale, Huntington Botanical Gardens; sale 1-3 rd, show 2 nd, 3 rd Don t forget, if you can take off Friday July 1 st, the Huntington is FREE that day!! Call Tom Glavich or Joe Clemens for show / exhibitor info. We ll run the show brochure in June issue. NEW! July 30 th : LACSS show & sale (tentative) Sepulveda Garden center, see www.lacss.com Yeah! LA show is back, after the garden center building was re-done. Note date changed. Aug 5-11 th ; 31 st CSSA Convention, Phoenix AZ; contact Duke Benadom or Leo Martin; cssainc.org Register now for this conference with a great roster of speakers from around the country! Phoenix is a mecca for great plants, with nurseries abounding. I m sure you ll bring a few back. Leo, with the Phoenix C&S club is hosting the conference. Convention Chairman, Duke Benadom; Program Chairman, Leo Martin e-mail: leo1010@attglobal.net Confirmed speakers already include Sheila Collenette, Chuck Hanson, John Lavranos, Mark Muradian, Gard Roper, Guy Wrinkle Aug 20, 21 st ; Intercity Show & Sale, 18 th annual; LA Arboretum; Info call Tom Glavich 626-798-2430, Gene Oster: 818-998-9306; Harry Fletcher: 310-538-4078; Jim Hanna 562-920-3046 Sept 3 rd ; Succulent Symposium; 22 nd annual; Huntington Gardens; Sept 4: CSSA board meeting Sept 25 th ; Long Beach C&SS Annual Auction; 18127 So. Alameda St, Compton CA Oct 15,16; San Gabriel C&SS Winter show & sale; LA Arboretum; 301 N. Baldwin, Arcadia, CA
Previous events: We had great fun with Joe Clemens grafting program. After a short talk, it was hands on and we grafted crested cacti and regulars onto cereus stock and euphorbia crests onto tall stock. First we gathereed around the table with all the equipment laid out: grafting stock, rubbing alcohol to sterilize our knives and cut the top off grafting stock. Next we trimmed the piece to put on top, either roundish cactus seedling, ariocarpus or euphorbias. Middle: Epithelantha graft, then Ariocarpus; right: crested top stock Discussion table: columnar Euphorbia, E. greenwayii, Aeonium, cactus, Aztekium ritterii, Echeveria Sunset CSS had their April show in Culver City just after our last meeting South Coast Botanical Gardens. The bromeliad show was next door, we wandered around photographing flowers there while Sunset was judging the show. Very interesting plants from Sunset CSS show, below: Notocactus rudivufnfekfri (sp?) Sarcocaulon euphorbiodes Euphorbia sp. (rhodacantha?) Gymnocalycium horstii Craig & Peggy Phillips Rosalie Gorbachoff Dick Hulett Duke Benadom Cotyledon eophylla; K. Ambrosia Sinningia speciosa caudex and leaf, Nels Christianson Sinningia cardinalis, Karen Ostler
Ballona Creek Bromeliad show: Wild bloom on this Guzmania; Best of show Vriesia simplex Billbergia Stu Cacti and Succulents locally: San Diego Balboa Park Cactus Garden: Aloe were mostly gone but a few species were covered with flower stalks. Ever seen something with knobly thorns like this? Right; Boojum, Aloes, Cacti, Euphorbias Near the downhill trail is tree below, Caesalpinia? Center: flower stalk of same tree Below, either a grass Aloe, or Aloe relative flower; view from cactus garden bridge toward rose garden trellis What are other clubs up to? Here s SDCSS May brag table plants: Echinocereus tayupensis Rusioum lineata Uncarina sterifolia
May 07 Member Garden Tour, Photo s courtesy Son Nguyen, and Gene Schroeder After meeting at 9 AM, we headed nearby to Roger s garden. Graced with a red-leaved Euphorbia cotinifolia bush outside, and a raised planter with a neat branchy Euphorbia bush, surrounded by lots of nice plants, some I d never seen before, and made more exotic by missing tags (which his cat pulls out). Left & right: we admire Roger s garden, loaded with unusual Tephrocactus, Gymno s, Euphorbias, more.. Below, Dot shows off her rare real species Fuschia bush; Right: Son admires plants under shadecloth on Dot s lush patio Below: Hank by an Echinopsis covered in blooms, among the central cactus bed he created in the center of his garden; Along one edge are rows of shelves and along the other side is a long narrow lathe house. This was the last stop on tour.