INTERNET EDITION. Guillermo Rivera. See Inside! May Nursery Field trip, Fresno Show & Sale, Central Coast Show & Sale. Monthly Meeting.

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1 INTERNET EDITION Opuntia basilaris var. treleasei Volume 11 May 2008 Number 5 THE NEWSLETTER OF THE BAKERSFIELD CACTUS & SUCCULENT SOCIETY This Month's Program North Western Argentina Presented by Opuntia basilaris at Anza-Borrego Photo by Lynn McDonald The Bakersfield Cactus & Succulent Society % Stephen Cooley, editor 4820 Mecca place Bakersfield, Ca Guillermo Rivera Monthly Meeting Tuesday, May 13 Olive Drive Church, 5500 Olive drive at 6:30 PM (Building 6, Room 604) Nursery Field trip, Fresno Show & Sale, Central Coast Show & Sale. See Inside!

2 Volume 11 Number 5 May 2008 The Cactus Patch is the official publication of the Bakersfield Cactus & Succulent Society (BCSS) of Bakersfield, California. Meetings are held on the second Tuesday of each month at the times and places noted within. GUEST ARE ALWAYS WELCOME 2008 Officers President Ed Colley Vice-President Jerry Garrison Treasurer - Maynard Moe Secretary Anne Lee Editors - Stephen Cooley Linda Cooley 2008 Directors CSSA Representative Maynard Moe Past President Vonne Zdenek 2008 Chairpersons The meeting started with lots of talk about: The upcoming GardenFest at Bakersfield College, needing help the Friday before the Yard sale to set up and tag things, Our approaching Show & sale in October, Jack Reynolds Bonsai Class (see page 14), the Central Coast Show & Sale (page 11), and the Fresno Show and Sale (also page 11). Rob Skillin then began his talk on Namibia, talking about everything from rainfall trends and cold ocean currents to flora and fauna. We saw wonderful photographs of euphorbias, stapeliads, lithops, Adenia, Pachypodium, Cyphostemma, Avonia, Sarcocaulon, and more! We ended the meeting with another spirited raffle of some great plants. Hospitality - Bill McDonald Librarian Rose Mary Maguire Field Trips Lynn McDonald Historian Stephen Cooley Show & Sale Maynard Moe Material in The Cactus Patch may be reprinted by non-profit organizations (unless such permission is expressly denied in a note accompanying the material) provided that the proper credit is given to the BCSS & the author and that one copy of the publication containing the reprinted material is sent to the editor. Reproduction in whole or part by any other organization without the permission of the BCSS editor is prohibited. Contact thecactuspatch@aol.com 2 3

3 Anza-Borrego MAY S PROGRAM North Western Argentina presented by Guillermo Rivera The talk explores the genera with the most species in North Western Argentina: Echinopsis (Trichocereus, Lobivia and Echinopsis sensu stricto), Parodia, and Gymnocalycium. Many habitat pictures will help you imagine the habitat for this plants. The importance of field knowledge in the taxonomy and classification of cacti will be discussed. Guillermo Rivera Guillermo is the owner of South America Cactus Expeditions, he was born in Argentina and has a BS degree in Biology and a PhD in Botany. His company organizes botanical tours in South America (Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Bolivia, and Peru), to see cactus and bromeliads in their habitat. 4 The last weekend of March found us driving at the precise time to fit right in with the Friday commuter traffic on the 210 & 15 freeways. As we were making our way through the Ferocactus cylindraceus Temecula area, noting how hilltops have been leveled for development, we could not but wonder why our pesky Oregon neighbor could not focus her environmental concerns on real environmental/habitat destruction, rather than upon our measly one half acre. After six hours of driving, we did locate our friends, camped at the palm canyon area of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, near Borrego Springs. It was a lovely evening & the stars were in abundance. Our friends are from Trinity Center in Northern California. Saturday morning, our son & daughter-in-law from Encinitas, joined us for the day. A hike was taken up Palm Canyon trail, with many other visitors. They were rewarded with a viewing of 3 Peninsula Bighorn sheep, a cool stream & many flowers. Some of the other Echinocereus engelmannii campers brought 5

4 along bird feeders, so we were able to enjoy some Costa's hummingbirds. My brother had told me there had been 1000 Swainson's hawks in the park earlier in the week. We were told where we might find them & joined up with local hawk counters to try to see some of the 50 who had spent Saturday night. We did see several, but at a great distance (does that even count, if you cannot id them?) Our friends stayed on until Tuesday & took some lovely, uncrowded hikes, after the weekend groups were gone. The wildflowers were nearly finished, but the cacti were really beginning to flower. Homo sapiens Lynn & Bill McDonald Membership in the Bakersfield Cactus & Succulent Society costs $10 per year for an individual and only $15 a year for a family. This extraordinarily reasonable price not only includes twelve issues of but entitles you to participate in club field trips to far-off (out-of-town) and exotic places (more exotic than Bakersfield). You will also receive a nifty name tag that will be your ticket to a members only plant raffle. All this is in addition to the wonderful programs and people at the meetings. To become a member contact: Maynard Moe, treasurer Lithops44@cox.net 6 Plant of the Month Epiphyllum chrysocardium by Jack G. Reynolds Once again I had to resort to a random pick for this month s plant but I like the way it came out. I have always admired the epiphyllums since my mother kept a few. The genus is in the same tribe as the night blooming cereus according to Glass and Foster. They are of the opinion that most of the day bloomers we find in nurseries now are the result of hybridization of the native night bloomers with brightly colored day blooming species producing the popular orchid cacti that number in the hundreds by now. Being epiphytic these cacti prefer a very light open soil mix in a hanging basket and prefer light shade in a humid microclimate. I had a large specimen of one of the orchid cacti growing in a crevice in a rock in Simi Valley. It had been there for years and bloomed well in average to wet years. E. chrysocardium is a large species with broad flat serrated stems up to a foot wide. The areoles are sometimes spineless or with two or three spines. It is a true night bloomer with a spectacular flower about a foot long with numerous stamens. It is white as are most night bloomers with a yellow center. When one considers that these night bloomers are typically pollinated by bats or moths the large white flowers begin to make sense. The moth pollinated species often have a perfume as well. This species is native to Mexico, growing in the Chiapas area. It prefers a warm place above 55 degrees F. 7

5 From ENGLAND to NEW ENGLAND A Letter from Bruce March was another busy month. On the 6th we visited Old Town Clovis. I found a bottle of Gaumbault s Caustic Balsam in an antique store. This is supposed to be rubbed into sores, both for veterinary and human use. The caustic part of the name is right! It contains both Euphorbia gum and Cantharides (blister beetle). Unfortunately it does not say which euphorbia. After that we went over to Fresno for the cactus meeting and came out with a box of plants. Next day Anne took the plants on the train back to Bakersfield. Polly and I continued on north to Sacramento and met up with our son John. Incidentally, I noted that 99 is planted with South African daisies and snapdragons. Whatever happened to local wildflowers? Next day we went to a breakfast with green pancakes (for St Patrick s Day, though it was at a Protestant church) and then drove to Los Gatos for a reunion of the caving bunch that came to Botswana in On the way we saw pelicans at the Yolo Causeway near Davis. The reunion involved lots of pictures and a feast that looked like a combined Christmas and Thanksgiving. Polly and I showed pictures of Gcwihaba in 2007, the cave which we failed to reach in We came away with two more boxes of plants! On the 9th we drove back to Sacramento and left John. We traveled via Gilroy to see the botanic garden there, but it was closed for the season. We did see a large flock of Buffleheads (aka Butterballs), a weird duck. At the San Luis Reservoir there were lots of poppies and some bush lupines. We also found tiny crassulas. On the 10th Polly and I went on up to Quincy to see our grandson Michael. Along the Feather River we collected serpentine and jade which we found in abundance. Great rocks for a garden! The canyon walls had paintbrush on the sunnyside and white-flowered poppies in the shade. Everyone was in good health this time. Next day we toured Quincy and rescued a large box of books being thrown out at a local thrift shop. We also saw Canada geese and herons. Next day we drove over to Portola, but found the Train 8 Museum was closed. Fortunately the bookstore wasn t and it had a copy of Medicinal Plants of the Pacific West (Michael Moore, 1993, Red Crane Books, Santa Fe, $22.50). I had seen this at our host s house in Los Gatos and was dieing to get it. Unfortunately it has almost no mention of succulents. It does list prickly pears (Opuntia basilaris etc.)and says the juice is good in treating type II diabetes. We went back to Quincy and joined a community dinner at the Methodist Church. On the 13th we drove back to Sacramento and on the 14th we arrived in Fresno and watched a very amateur production called The cry of the Banshee directed by Polly s sister Nancy and featuring our niece Margaret. On the 14th we finally returned to Bakersfield. On the 17th we went to a book sale at the Beale Library and found the books were half price as it was the last day. On the 30th we had a birthday celebration for our grandnephew Joey who is an unbelievable 21! But enough for now. Last July we left England on the 22nd at 5:20 p.m. and arrived in Boston at 7:06. It was actually the usual seven hour and 46 minute flight, but time zones ate up the day. We were quite tired when we finally got to the Ramada Inn (after being turned away by two of their transports which had no room). Next morning we had a delightful buffet breakfast and 9

6 phoned Greyhound for information on getting to Nova Scotia. (Remember, Botswana Government would not fly us there as Air Botswana does not have any agreement with Air Canada.) We were told it was a 17 hour bus ride! We had lunch at the Freeport Inn (next to the Ramada) while thinking about a better plan. Fortunately when I went across the highway to cash travelers checks, we found Puritan Travel which booked us on to a Ferry from Portland, Main to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. Along the highway we found milkweeds in fruit and some orpines (Sedum telephium). According to Euell Gibbons in his oddly titled book Stalking the Blue-eyed Scallop (1964, David McKay Co., N.Y. ), the common orpine (also Live-forever, Aaron s rod and Frog plant) was brought to America from Europe and has leaves which are tender, mild and tasty. The crisp tubers may also be eaten. In the afternoon we visited Philips Candy House and bought chocolate turtles. That evening we had pizza and watched bowling at the Alley next to the Ramada. Returning to our room we watched the first Democratic Party debate for the presidential campaign. What a plethora of candidates (many of whom I still don t know.) On the 24th we took the bus thru rocks and evergreens to Portland, Maine and checked into a Super 8 Motel. We had a Sr. meal at Friendly s which (unknown to us) came with dessert, so we were stuffed. On the way back to the hotel we noted that the milkweeds in Maine were still blooming. On the 25th we went back into town and ate at DiMillo s Floating Restaurant. Naturally we had lobster. (Back in the 70 s a friend took us to Maine for lobster, but it was out of season!) We then took a tour which led us past the birthplace of Nathaniel Hawthorn to the lighthouse at Portland Head. I noted thrift (Armeria maritima) on the rocks there. (We had seen it at Plymouth, England). On the way back the driver asked which state has the most lighthouses and I won a can of baked beans for correctly stating Michigan. (I admitted this was unfair as Polly s sister Kathy lives in Detroit and collected lighthouses.) That evening we ate at Horton s, a chain I do not recommend. On the 26th we took the Cat to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, but I ll tell about that next month FRESNO CACTUS & SUCCULENT SOCIETY Annual Show & Sale MAY 17th & 18th Saturday 9-5 Sunday 10-4 Manchester Center (Corner of Shields & Blackstone) Bruce & Polly can probably give you more info at the meeting CENTRAL COAST CACTUS & SUCCULENT SOCIETY Annual Show & Sale May 24 (10:30-6:00) and 25 (11:00-4:00) San Luis Obispo downtown library 955 Palm St, San Luis Obispo Contact Rob Skillin at rhskillin@earthlink.net

7 BAKERSFIELD COLLEGE GARDENFEST th The club made about $300 at the GardenFest April 19 and it looks like this will be an excellent new member and revenue source in the future. An executive decision was made to purchase a sculpture by local artist Anie Prise it is a saguaro made from horseshoes we ll install it at the Cal State succulent garden. The GardenFest should definitely be an annual event for the club! (Thanks to Les Oxford & Donna Pitcher for the Photos) Field Trips King s Nursery & Outdoor Living Saturday, May 17 Those of us who were at the BC GardenFest had the pleasure of meeting Lowell Bennett of King s Nursery. What a discovery! It seems that we have a truly passionate nursery manager just to the west of us in Taft. His is an upscale nursery, catering to people who are upgrading their landscapes (as opposed to those who are happy with the over-used usual assortment of hedges, trees, and groundcovers that are often found in new landscapes). He is willing to host us at his nursery on Saturday, May 17 he ll even provide lunch! It should be a great outing! However, we have to let him know in advance how many are coming so he can plan ahead. He has a good assortment of unusual plants, including succulents. [NOTE: This is also the date of the first day of the Fresno Show & Sale] President Ed packages up some cuttings for a visitor at the GardenFest 12 13

8 ANNOUNCEMENTS THANKS JUDY! Thanks to Judy Domingos for contacting the Bakersfield Californian about our booth at the GardenFest and about our club in general. IT S OKAY TO BRAG A LITTLE We had a few plants at the brag table last month, let s see some more! Bring in any plant you are proud of or you just like for some reason. BOBBY WILLIAMS One of our charter members, Bobby Williams, passed away recently. Though she wasn t able to be active in the club these last few years, those of us old-timers know how valuable she was to this club in its infancy. BONSAI CLASS Jack Reynold s bonsai class is having its first meeting on May 8th (second Thurs.) 7-10 PM at the Silver Creek Recreation Center on Harris Rd. in the SW part of town. I know that the newsletter may not be out by the 8th but there may be room for latecomers. UPCOMING EVENTS May 13 BCSS Meeting 6:30pm Olive Drive Church speaker: Guillermo Rivera May 17 BCSS Field Trip: King s Nursery, Taft. Exotic garden plants and succulentrs! June 10 BCSS Meeting (early?) at the Cal State Succulent Garden. May 17 Carmichael C&S Society Show and Sale May 17 Fresno C&S Society Show and Sale. Saturday 9-5 Sunday Manchester Center (Corner of Shields & Blackstone) May 24 Central Coast C&S Society Show and Sale Saturday 10:30-6:00 and Sunday 11:00-4:00. San Luis Obispo downtown library 955 Palm St, San Luis Obispo. Contact Rob Skillin rhskillin@earthlink.net Jun 7-8 San Diego C&SS Show & Sale, Balboa Park, room 101. Jun 14 SF Club Annual Show and Sale Jun Gates C&SS 29th Show & Sale, 9-4, Jarupa Mts Cultural Center, 7621 Granite Hill Dr., Glen Avon, CA. Jun CSSA Annual Show & Sale, Huntington Gardens. contact the editors for more information Stephen Cooley Linda Cooley Visit us on the web 14 thecactuspatch@aol.com X7487linda@gmail.com 15