APRIL — 2014

ThornySACRAMENTO & SUCCULENT Issues SOCIETY

Volume 55, #4

Succulent Planters  Monday, April 28th—7pm Inside this issue:

Mini Show—April 2 Our next meeting will be on Monday, April 28 at 7pm. Club member and succulent fanatic Mini-Show Winners 5 extraordinaire Candy Suter will give a hands-on Dates & Details 3/5 demonstration on how to make a beautiful Calendar—May 6 planters using succulents. Candy has been perfecting the art of succulent planters for many years. Many of her creations can be seen on her fabulous blog Sweetstuff’s Sassy Succulents as well as on her much visited Facebook page which currently has over 7,100 followers from all over the world. Candy will show you how to make striking succulent arrangements using you might already have in your

garden or greenhouse. She will also talk “Easter ideas” about how easy it easy to propagate succulent By Candice Suter planter favorites like Echeverias, Crassulas, Sacramento Cactus & Aeoniums and Aloes from cuttings. You’ll Succulent Society walk away with creative ideas you can easily replicate at home. Don’t miss this Meetings are held the 4th Monday of each month at 7pm opportunity to see how a master does it! Location: Shepard Garden & Arts — Gerhard Bock, Program Chair Center in Sacramento.

3330 McKinley Blvd

Center’s phone number — 916/808-8800

No official meeting in December

The public is warmly invited to attend meetings MINI SHOW — APRIL

Cactus — Succulent — Anacampseros Gymnocalycium is a of about 70 South American Anacampseros is a genus consisting of a number of species. Their main area of distribution is Argentina, part of small perennial succulent plants, native to South of Uruguay, Paraguay, southern Bolivia and part of Africa. The Brazil. Most botanical name species are Anacampseros is globose, rather an ancient one small varying for herbs from 1.5 to 6 supposed to inches in size (4 restore lost love. cm to 15 cm). The plants form They are clumping and popular for their bosal rosettes of easy flowering smooth or hairy habits, although Anacampseros marlothii flesh succulent the flowers are leaves in dense generally Gymnocalycium baldianum mats, developing a brightly colored. small caudex as they They are also popular for their ease to care for. The age, with white genus name "gymnocalycium" comes from the Greek for filamentous hairs "naked calyx" along the stems. referring to the Leaves are lance- flower buds shaped or almost bearing no hair round; the more or spines. They exposure to light, the are sensitive to more vivid the leaf- Anacampseros alstonii root mealy bugs. colors. Anacampseros has flat, wheel- The flowers are shaped flowers, white, pink, colored from white pinkish, or to pale purple; these occasionally grow from time to yellow. Only the time in summer, and plants receiving Gymnocalycium saglionis open on sunny day at least half a only. The plants are day of bright light self-fertile and will bloom. produce seeds in a Anacampseros baeseckei Most species are cup of upright propagated from filaments. They can seeds that need 70° reach 6 inches in F (21°C) minimum height, and are to germinate. dormant in winter. Some species Anacampseros Mill. is produces offsets a synonym of the that can also be genus Sedum. The used for genus Anacampseros propagation. They is in the family are commonly Portulacaceae in the called “chin major group cactus.” Angiosperms (Flowering plants). Gymnocalycium andreaea Anacampseros rufescens

Page 2 APRIL— 2014 Thorny Issues DATES & DETAILS —

 BOXES—FLATS—BOXES—FLATS Echeveria with pointy Keep saving flats/boxes for the Sales area. You may leaves), but resisted bring them on Friday, Saturday or Sunday. They will be the purchase in my needed on every one of those days. The best places to partly-successful find these precious items are Costco & Sam’s Club. We effort to stay within also need lots of volunteers to do sales transactions!! the budget I set for — Dennis & Ellen Ragasa, Plant Sales Chairs myself before going. The Show featured  IT’S SHOW TIME!!!! maybe 12-15 vendors, The April meeting is just one week before the Show so and instead of having time to get hopping! At the meeting you can pick up each vendor paid more registrations tags, show schedules, publicity fliers separately, you could and sign up for committees. Here are a few Do’s & Don’ts just choose all the to help everyone enjoy the Show weekend: plants you wanted, then pay for Do read the show schedule to familiarize yourself with everything at the end. times and dates. Do bring your plants in on Friday May 2 Almost everything as early as possible after 11 am. All plants must be in was well-labeled, and place by 7 pm. Do sign up for at least one committee at the whole setup was easy and convenient. Yay! the April meeting. Areas that always need help: Plant Sales, Plant Hotel, Hospitality, Security, Membership. See If memory serves, last year's sale favored cacti over succs, schedule for names of chairs. Remember if you work, the but this year's wares were fairly evenly divided between Club feeds you. Do wear your name badge. Not all of us cacti and other succulents. Plus, I like cacti more than I know who everyone is and this helps break the ice. No used to, particularly Rebutias, of which there were plenty. name badge? There will be stick-on ones available. Do One vendor had air plants, and there were some "meh" bring a dish to share for the Sunday pot-luck lunch. Do plastic pots. That was my only real disappointment--I help with kitchen clean up on all three days. Do bring wanted to pick up some cool pots, and this wasn't the boxes/flats for the Plant Sales. Do vote for your favorite place to do it. shadow box. Of course, this just meant that there was more money left Do use white registration tags for Division III no matter if in my budget for plants, so I can't really complain, can I? you are novice, junior, open or advanced. Don’t water or Among the awesome new additions to my collection were apply pesticide to your plants the week before the Show. a Crassula marchandii (yeah, I already have some, but still-- you never know when you might want to make some Don’t remove any of your show plants before the Sunday cuttings), a Sulcorebutia rauschii special clone with white 4 pm closing time. Don’t take home that beautiful rosette flowers, a Euphorbia symmetrica, an interesting pink-blue ribbon you won for a Best in Show – the Club recycles Echeveria, a small them for the following year. Do take home the smaller lime-green Haworthia ribbons if you desire. truncata, and my Do come to work, have fun, get to know your fellow Club favorite find of all: a members and buy plants for next year’s Show. It’s lots six-inch "Joe about camaraderie (and just a little about competition). Hoak" (pictured left) — Show Committee for only $6! It made me glad I didn't  GEMS FROM THE CCTUS & SUCCULENT spend the $13 to pick SOCIETY OF SAN JOSE’S SHOW & SALE up the one on eBay (Gardening Succs — blog post for 4/8/2014) I've been contemplating. To give you a sense of what the show was like, here's a Anyhow, without photo of one of the sale tables, which represents probably about 1/20 of what was for sale. I was sorely tempted to further ado, here are some photos of my buy a Tacitus bellus (you can see four of them in the favorite eye candy from Saturday's show! Some of these bottom half of this picture--they look kind of like won prizes, and others did not, but they all caught my eye.

Volume 55, #4 APRIL — 2014 Page 3 DATES & DETAILS — (CON’T)

Enjoy!

Page 4 APRIL — 2014 Thorny Issues DATES & DETAILS — (CON’T)

 SAN FRANCISCO FLOWER & GARDEN SHOW 2014 — CANDICE SUTER It's been over a week since the Show and it is really great looking over the photos and remembering the great time I had. The San Francisco Flower & Garden Show was from March 19-23rd at the San Mateo Event Center. There was so much for us to ever saw a blank spot with no see and do. They had over succulent. More succulent 200,000 sq feet of just about beauty and yes I came home with everything related to some! Gardening, flowers, floral “Sticky Situation” came all the design and outdoor living. way from Tucson, AZ. And they With over 20 spectacular had quite a great selection of 'sticky' succulents! So many display gardens and over 250 beautiful succulents. And as you can see lots of blooming exhibitors there was just no cactus. Sweetstuff’s Sassy Succulents -3/31/14 post There were quite a few Orchid way to cover it all in two vendors at the Show. Looking at days. Maybe next year I will them this close really makes me Mini Show Winners — March, 2014 be able to stay for the whole appreciate their beauty. And I event. I had a great time with really got to play with depth of Debra Lee Baldwin and Cactus — Monotypic Cactus helped with her field on my new camera. st presentations. I also got to meet up with Tiffany Polli at 1 Ortegocactus macdougallii, Penny Newell Succulent Gardens and Larrisa Haney of Succulent Bliss. 2nd Leuchtenbergia principis, Steve Goodman

2nd Leuchtenbergia principis, Keith Taylor

2nd Obregonia denegrii, Mary Schuett

3rd Obregonia denegrii, Dennis Ragasa

3rd Obregonia denegrii, Michelle Egan

3rd Obregonia denegrii, George Avery

We have been trying to Succulent — Miniature Succulents meet up for some time and had a wonderful time st together with her Mom. 1 Conophytum obcordellum, Keith Taylor Since my favorite part of the 2nd Conophytum stefanii, Mary Schuett Show was the retail area I will cover it first. They were actually in both buildings (the Expo Hall and Fiesta Hall) 2nd Gasteria liliputana, Michelle Egan but I only made my rounds in the Fiesta Hall the first day. That's where all the live plant vendors displayed 3rd Gasteria hybrid, Penny Newell everything from vegetables to exotic orchids of every type and color. This building had a nice air flow and the smell From the Editor’s Desk — of all the beautiful plants was intoxicating. Of course Publication Deadline — 10th of each month. Succulent Gardens was there with rows and rows of never Please forward all submissions for consideration ending beautiful succulents. This is my favorite place and to my contact info (per your choice) found on back page. I spent a lot of time (and money) here. Tiffany and the other SG peeps were always restocking and you barely E-mail: [email protected] Respectfully your editor, Mara Aditajs

Volume 55, # 4 APRIL — 2014 Page 5 FIRST CLASS Candice Suter Suter Candice Blue seashell planter seashell Blue

Next Meeting Date ♦ Monday, April 28th SACRAMENTO CACTUS & SUCCULENT SOCIETY

c/o Mara Aditajs, Editor

E-mail: [email protected]

WE’RE ON THE WEB! Click on the 3 links below to go directly to our website, Facebook, or the CSSA website www.sacramentocss.org

MAY  2014 SUN MON TUES WED THURS FRI SAT

1 2 3 SC&SS SHOW SC&SS—SHOW SET-UP ♦ 11-7 & SALE, 9/10-5

4 5 6 7 8 9 10 SC&SS—SHOW & SALE, 10-4 2014 Awards Potluck Date—Thursday, May 15th 11 12 Set-up13 ♦ 6:30pm14 15 16 17

Dinner ♦ 7pm

Details—May newsletter Show Awards Potluck—7pm

18 19 20 21 22 23 24

25 26 27 28 29 30 31