CACTUS COURIER An Affiliate Member of the Cactus and Succulent Society of America

Newsletter of the Palomar Cactus and Succulent Society The North San Diego County Cactus and Succulent Club!

Volume 65, Number 4 April 2019

NEXT MEETING May 18th

NO APRIL MEETING! We got flooded out!

See Notices for the details!

palomarcactus.org

We’re on Facebook!

Questions: info@palomarcactus.org

2019 NEWSLETTERS ARE NOW ON THE WEBSITE!

SEE NOTICES FOR DETAILS.

NOVICE 1st - Moni Walblinger – Fockea edulis 2nd - Moni Walblinger – Aloe ‘Swordfish 3rd - Sandy Wetzel-Smith – Aeonium Kiwi crested INTERMEDIATE 1st – Neila Rybicki – Euphorbia enopla 1st – Harold Dunn – Astrophytum sp.

2nd - Bill Diangelo – Aloe arborescens variegata

3rd - May Fong Ho – Tephrocactus articulatus var. papyracanthus 3rd - Neila Rybicki – Calibanus hookeri 3rd - Don Nelson – Gasteria ADVANCED 1st - John Barkley – Kalenchoe Blossfeldia

‘Pearl Bells’

2nd - Lorie Johansen – Aeonium arboretum ‘Zwartkop’ crested 2nd - John Barkley – Mammillaria muehlenpfordtii

3rd - Russel Ray – Aloe castilloniae 3rd - Dean Karras – Mammillaria gracilis 3rd - Candy/Gerry Garner – Haworthia

In This Issue Spring Festival People’s Choice Winners p. 1 Notices & Spring Festival Recap p. 2 Spring Festival Photo Collage p. 3 - 4 Garden Brag Photos p. 5 - 6 A Timely Tip from Ron Chisum p. 7 Brag Table Points to Date Chart p. 7 News from the Safari Park p. 7 Del Mar Fair Container Plant Contest p. 8 SDCSS Show & Sale Flyer p. 9 Bernardo Gardeners Garden Tour Info p. 9 CSSA 2019 Conference Info p. 10 April / May So. Cal Event Flyers p. 11 Misc. Club Info & Calendars, p. 12 Succulent Eye Candy - a new feature! p. 12

SPRING FESTIVAL PEOPLE’S CHOICE SHOW WINNERS

1st PLACE WINNERS

Moni Waiblinger’s Fockea edulis (above) – Novice 1st

Neila Rybicki's Euphorbia enopla (above) and Harold

Dunn's Astrophytum sp. (left) - tied for Intermediate 1st

Right is John Barkley's Kalenchoe blossfeldiana 'Pearl

Bells' (right) - Advanced 1st

2nd PLACE WINNERS Moni Waiblinger's Aloe ‘Swordfish’, left -

Novice 2nd (Moni is now officially an Intermediate!) Bill Diangelo's Aloe arborescens varigata

(right) – Intermediate 2nd Lorie Johansen's Aeonium arboretum

'Zwartkop' crested (below right) and John Barkley's Mammillaria mirabilis monstrose

(below) - tied for Advanced 2nd 3rd PLACE WINNERS! Sandy Wetzel Smith - Aeonium Kiwi

crest (right) - Novice 3rd

May Fong Ho - Tephrocactus articulatus var. papyracanthus (left), Neila Rybicki's

Calibanus hookeri, (below), and Don Nelson's Gasteria - (bottom left)

– all tied for Intermediate 3rd

Candy/Gerry Garner's Haworthia, Russel Ray's Aloe castilloniae,

Dean Karras’ Mammillaria gracilis, - all tied for Advanced 3rd

~ NOTICES ~ April 27th Meeting Cancelled As you read in the 3/28 eblast, our regular meeting site, the Escondido Community Center, had a major water leak recently which caused extensive damage so we have had to cancel our April 27 meeting. The good news is we have found a nearby location, East Valley Community Center, for our May 18th meeting. Repairs should be done by June, but just in case, we've reserved it for June 22nd too.

April Events Spring is here, and as announced in the 3/28 eblast, there are a number of wonderful garden events this month that you can attend. They, and several others, are listed below. Also see p. 11 for three flyers about other events in April and early May. Enjoy!

~ Wanda Mallen and Gary Vincent’s Coffee in the Garden is on Saturday, April 13th from 10am - 2pm. . There will be two surprise vendors in attendance! ~ California Native Plant Society - Garden Tour: Inviting Nature Home: The Native Gardens of Central San Diego County, April 13 & 14, 10:00am-4:00pm, click here for more information and to buy tickets: https://www.cnpssd.org/events/gardentour2019 . ~ Waterwise Botanicals: https://www.waterwisebotanicals.com/activities/succulent- celebration-2019/ , April 13-14 Succulent Celebration. Click on link for more information. FREE

~ The United States Postal Service official stamp introduction is at Palomar College Cactus Garden on Monday, April 15th at 11:30am. This also gives you another chance to visit the garden and see the amazing improvements that Kevin Smith has made since he began volunteering there. Please contact May Fong Ho at info@palomarcactus.org if you will be attending. ~ San Diego Cactus & Succulent Society meeting on April 20th – see just below for information. ~ The Bernardo Gardeners Club Spring Garden Tour on April 27th - see p. 9 for details, and buy tickets NOW by mail, or that day. ~ The San Diego Horticultural Society’s annual Garden Tour on April 27th. Click on the following link for information, but don’t wait to buy tickets as it is always a sellout: https://sdhort.wildapricot.org/event-3161812. ~ And on May 11th, the 21st annual Mission Hills Garden Walk: http://www.missionhillsgardenclub.org/mission-hills-garden-walk/

PCSS Members Invited to Attend SDCSS April 20th Meeting San Diego Cactus & Succulent Society upon hearing about our cancelled April meeting graciously invited our club members to come to their meeting on Saturday, April 20th in Balboa Park, Rm 101, (just west of the Natural History Museum). Their speaker, Dr. Sula Vanderplank, will be talking about “Succulent Plants of Baja Pacific Islands”. Dr. Vanderplank. serves San Diego Zoo Global as a Postdoctoral Fellow working with the Center for Plant Conservation, and the San Diego Natural History Museum. Her passion is conservation of the biodiversity of Baja California. For more details about the meeting go to their website www.SDCSS.net for the schedule.

PCSS 2019 Newsletters are now on our Website We now have 2019 newsletters posted on our website so you can refer back to them or just read them on line. Go to the palomarcactus.org Newsletter tab and there they are! The current month’s will be posted approximately 10 days before that month’s meeting. Do note: we have removed all personal phone numbers, emails, and address, so use your directory for contact information. There are links on the About Us page to email Brita, Annie, Peter, or Richard (Membership). We will be adding the missing years in the next few months.

Spring Festival Recap Our 6th annual Spring Member Festival was a fun and successful way to jump into spring! Attendees expressed how much they enjoyed the camaraderie and the chance to spend time with other members in a relaxed environment. And who can forget all the delicious food our members brought in - thank you!

Thank you to our members who brought in Show plants, at all levels! Your contributions were beautiful and made for a very successful show! This year we decided not to have a judged show, which allowed us to have time to fit in an extra workshop! And as a bonus, that made a lot less work for volunteers. We did however have a People’s Choice Award Contest again, and the results are on page 1.

As always, our Member Sales Tables were very popular. There was a line to purchase all the great deals. See the photo of the box of sales sticks to get an idea of how busy we were.

We had two new presenters and workshops this year. The first was on “Growing from Seed” by Dean Karras, a PCSS member, owner of Gnosis Nursery. And the second was on “Common Pests” by Ray Lambo, IPM Lead, San Diego Zoo & Safari Park. Ron Chisum, always a favorite presenter, rearranged his birthday trip to be with us and Peter Walkowiak did his “Soil” workshop.

A HUGE THANK YOU GOES TO ALL OUR GREAT VOLUNTEERS! YOU ARE THE BACKBONE OF AN EVENT LIKE THIS!!!

p. 2

Spring Festival Photo Collage

Show Plants

p. 3

Sales

Workshops

p. 4 Lorie's succulent pants!

Share a section of your garden, a plant that bloomed in between meetings, or one that is too large or heavy to bring to the Brag Table. You earn 1 Brag Point for emailing

photos and 2 points for each one published. Email or text them to Annie at: info@palomarcactus.org WITH your name AND the plant name.

HUMMINGBIRDS @ jhtJohn Tashjian has a hummingbird nest in his yard and documented their progress for us! Above, Susan LaFreniere's cactus blooms..

John Barley's blooming mammillaria dish gardens below.

Phyllis Flechsig’s Dudleya brittonii with blooms galore

getting ready to open, above.

Lorie Johansen's Notocactus uebelmannianus v. 'Flaviflorus' large blooms on a tiny cactus,

left. p. 5

And for anyone who missed

the Super Blooms in the desert or the Lake Elsinore poppies, I just couldn't help

myself, they were spectacular!

Lorie Johansen's Casa Vista blooms, above. Can you find all the

succulents?

John Barkley's aloe, left.

Annie

p. 6

A Timely Tip from Ron Chisum This is a good time to inspect your plants after our wetter than average winter. This cactus took in too much water and started to crack open. Bacteria and fungus got in and created a toxic soup that would have killed the entire plant without surgery. 2)Cleaning it out and allowing it to dry is the primary cure. It will be checked daily to make sure more surgery is not needed. The second crack in the same plant did not become infected so it was opened a little to insure drying. The scars will be permanent, but I did not want my 20-year-old plant to die. RON

News from the Safari Park By May Fong Ho

The Dudleyas at the Baja Garden are gorgeous right

now, tucked under other plants – the so-called nurse plants. You can find many beautiful Dudleya brittoniis

embellishing big barrel cactus and boojum trees.

Come enjoy the Gardens, or weed with us ;)

If you have plants or materials to donate, or if you would like to volunteer at the gardens, please

contact May Fong Ho at info@palomarcactus.org. .

Photos by M. F. Ho used with permission of the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.

BRAG TABLE & GARDEN BRAG PHOTOS POINTS January – April 2019 We hope listing these develops a little healthy competition, encourage more entries, and lets you know where you stand. We will list them again in August and December. If you have 5 or less total points, we will not include your name, or at your request.

And again this year, we will be awarding 8” plants to the very top point earners in each level at the December Holiday Party when we hand out gift plants. Points for both categories (Brag Table & Garden Brag Photos) will be totaled and Gift Plants will be given out by level starting with the highest point winners.

NOVICEINTERMEDIATEADVANCED GARDENBRAGPHOTOS

Congratulation to Moni Walblinger who has moved up to the Intermediate Level!

Neila Rybicki 36 Moni Waiblinger 34 Annie Morgan 30 Libbi Salvo 15 Kevin Smith 12 Bill Diangelo 10 Harold Dunn 10 Heather Chan 7 Don Nelson 7

Russel Ray 112

Ron Chisum 27

John Barkley 26 Lorie Johansen 20 Robert Kopfstein 20 Mike Nelson 20 Dean Karras 12 Candy/Gerry Garner 10

Lorie Johansen 14 Annie Morgan 10 John Tashjian 9 John Barkley 7 Susan LaFreniere 6 Russel Ray 5

Charlyne Barad 14 Kathie Hoxie 10 Vivian Folmer 10 Tammy Harmon 8 Vicki Martin 7

p. 7

San Diego County Fair Container Plant Contest

We had staff from the SD County Fair Garden Department scheduled to speak at our April meeting, but since it has been cancelled here is the information. about the Container Contest. It is an easy contest to enter, and your $10 entry fee gets you two free tickets to the fair!

Here is a note from them: “We hope that you will all join us this year by entering a Container Plant. We divided our Cactus and Succulents class into 2 classes this year; Class 2 is Cactus and Class 8 is Succulents. We hope to see you at the 2019 “Ozsome” Fair.”

Go to this website: sdfair.com/entry, scroll down to Competitive Exhibits and then down to Garden Show. Click on that and it will bring you to Landscape Display and Container Gardens on the left and Entry Information on the right. The links on the Entry Info side will pull up all the information, entry forms, etc. that you need. Read it over a few times and it will all make sense. Last year Tammy Harmon from our club entered 10 containers and won multiple prizes!

Below are some photos from the 2017 Container Garden Contest, and as you can see it can be dish garden style or individual plants.

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Auction ∙ Spectacular Show PlantsRare, Exotic Plants & Handmade Pottery for Sale

2 0 1 9S U M M E RSHOW & SALEJ U N E 1 & 2

∙B a l b o a P a r kCasa de l Prado

∙Open to the PublicFree Admi s s ion

Ariocarpus fissuratus ‘Godzilla’Rarest Plant in Show ∙ Kal Kaminer

9am – 11am Member’s Only Shopping* 11am – 5pm Plant Sale Open to Public10am – 3pm Plant Show

10am – 4pm Plant Sale & Show10am – 1pm Interactive Planting Activities for Kids!1pm – 2pm Adult Class2pm Plant Auction

Saturday, June 1

FAMILY DAYSunday, June 2

*Join online at https://www.sdcss.net/membership, or submit form on reverse

Bernardo Gardeners Club Spring Garden Tour

Saturday, April 27th ~ 10am – 3pm Self-Guided Tour of Five Local Gardens

Spring Garden Tour

Tickets may be purchased until April 26th only at Walter Anderson Nursery - 12755 Danielson Ct., Poway

You may order tickets by mail – the order must be received by April 13th.

Send checks payable to: Bernardo Gardeners Club, c/o 12642 Camino Emparrado, San Diego, CA 92128

(Be sure to provide your mailing address!)

Tickets may be purchased on tour day (cash only) at the tour home at 12418 Grandee Rd., San Diego 92128

Cost $20 per person (no refunds) - Rain or Shine!

Flat Shoes Required – Not Wheelchair Accessible No Children under Twelve Years of Age

For more information contact: bernardogardenersclub@gmail.com

COMPLIMENTARY REFRESHMENTS

CRAFT & PLANT VENDORS MASTER GARDENERS EXPERTS

p. 9

p. 10 Website: CSSACONVENTION.COM for all the details, registration, etc.!

SALE

THE HUNTINGTON’S 45TH ANNUAL SPRING

plantMEMBERS ONLY: FRIDAY, APRIL 26 | 10 A.M. TO 5 P.M.

SATURDAY, APRIL 27 | 10 A.M. TO 1 P.M.

ALL VISITORS: SATURDAY, APRIL 27 | 1 TO 5 P.M. SUNDAY, APRIL 28 | 10 A.M. TO 5 P.M.

1151 Oxford Road San Marino, California 91108 huntington.org

p. 11

NEW -

Palomar Cactus & Succulent Society The North San Diego County C & S Club!

MEMBERSHIP FORM

Click below for a printable Membership Application:

http://www.palomarcactus.org/membership/

Palomar Cactus & Succulent Society BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Brita Miller – President, Show Chair, Event Coordinator • eventcoordinator@palomarcactus.org

OPEN – Vice-President – Contact Brita Miller for information.

John Barkley – Treasurer •

Peter Walkowiak – Member at Large, Plant Expert • plantexpert@palomarcactus.org

David Buffington – Member at Large

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

OTHER VOLUNTEERS Annie Morgan - Program Chair, Website, Newsletter Editor

(paid position), info@palomarcactus.org Lorie Johansen - Guest & New Member Ambassador,

Plant of the Month Richard Miller - Membership membership@palomarcactus.org

Dennis Miller - Cash Register at Monthly Meetings Sandy Wetzel-Smith & Bruce Barry – Refreshments

Vicki Martin - Co-Librarian Kevin Smith – Brag Table

Francis Granger & Brian Magone – Exchange Table Chet Reed – Brag Plant Photographer

Russel Ray – Event Photographer, Website Nell McChesney – Name Tag Drawing Plants

Libbi Salvo – Monthly Meeting Set-up

2019 MEETING SCHEDULE Speakers & Topics & Plants of the Month

May 18th - 3rd Saturday Ernesto Sandoval – “Forms & Functions of Cacti and Succulents Inside and Out, Along with other Desert Dwellers!” & P of M TBA

June 22nd - - - - - - - - Speaker TBA & P of M TBA

July 27th - - - - - - - - - Speaker TBA & P of M TBA

August 24th - - - - - - Annual Picnic at San Diego Botanic Garden

September 21st - - - Jeff Moore (if his new book is finished) & P of M TBA

October 26 - 27 - - - FALL SHOW & SALE AT SAN DIEGO BOTANIC GARDENS IN ENCINITAS

November 23rd - - - Woody Minnich – 20 years in the ATACAMA & P of M TBA

December 21st - 3rd Saturday – HOLIDAY PARTY & GIFT PLANTS FOR YOU!

Upcoming So. California Events

April 28 Huntington Plant Sale (all types of plants) 10am - 5pm, Huntington Botanical Gardens, 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino Info: 626-405-3504

May 4-5 Sunset C & S Society Show & Sale Memorial Center, Multi-Purpose Rm, 4117 Overland Ave., Culver City, Info: 310-822-1783

May 5th South Bay Epiphyllum Society Show & Sale 9 - 4pm, South Coast Botanical Gardens, Info: 310-833-6823

May 10-11 Gates C & S Society Show & Sale Fri., & Sat. 9 - 4 :00 pm, Redlands Church of Nazarene, 1307 E. Citrus Ave., Redlands, Info: 909-910-9195 or www.gatesscss.com

May 18-19 Long Beach Cactus Club Plant Show & Sale Info: 310-647-7300