. 2010 Aloe May family. Many are in bloom right now and have family. Many are in bloom right now and Liliaceae CCCSS April Meeting Recap CCCSS April striking flowers, usually red or orange but occasionally yellow and striking flowers, usually red or orange but to the 30’s, but if it white. They can grow in temperatures down them, that’s too gets into the 20’s bring them inside or protect them so you can cold for them! Growers have been hybridizing some very unusual and find them in smaller than natural sizes with beautiful foliage. Baldwin as our guest We had the pleasure of having Debra Lee from the San Diego speaker, an award winning photo journalist slide show of some area. Her presentation included a wonderful garden. Debra pro- beautiful gardens and some from her own in a garden when motes that one doesn’t have to have flowers The low mainte- a succulent’s colorful foliage is just as beautiful. also a huge plus. Debra’s nance and low water requirements are and repetition. Take vision of designing with succulents is contrast your and pots, combine colors, textures and rocks to cre- ate a beautiful patio or garden scene. Even if you live in frosty zones pots can always be moved to a protected area, so don’t let it stop you from growing succulents if you live ‘over the hill’. Thank you Debra, I know I came home and looked at my plants with a whole different vision. See you at the May meeting. ~Jan Moon We had a huge turnout for our April meeting. Rain nor wind We had a huge turnout from showing up with standing room stopped over 150 people only. to for organizing the field trip on April 10th Thanks to Wayne Mills fun. Bonsai. The word is that it was great Anne Erb and Muranaka and please return IMPORTANT REMINDER: Please pay your dues any library books you may have. plants ready for our You have a little over a month to get your still can use help vol- Memorial Day weekend show & sale. We will get a discount on unteering, and if you sign up to help you in August. This will be a a future trip to the Inter City Show & Sale Cactus & Succulent bus trip to Los Angeles and one of the largest shows in the world. of many, Our of the month was an all time favorite mainly from Africa and These “Hummingbird Flower” plants are in the On the Dry Side the On Agave •Upcoming Speaker •Upcoming Speaker - Nick Wilkinson • of the Month - •Last Month’s - Meeting Minutes Inside this issue: CENTRAL COAST CACTUS AND SUCCULENT SOCIETY NEWSLETTER SOCIETY SUCCULENT AND CACTUS COAST CENTRAL

Central Coast Cactus & Succulent Society c/o Markus Mumper 780 Merced St. Pismo Beach, CA 93449 MAY’S PROGRAM NEXT meeting: Speakers of the Month Nick Wilkinson & Rob Skillin Sun, May 9’th at PREPARING YOUR SHOW PLANTS 2:00 pm l0l N This month Nick and Rob will lead a demonstration on prepar- San Luis Obispo Library ing show plants. They will bring some of their own plants, pots, Mill soil and top dressings to provide a lesson on their thoughts on San Luis Obispo show plant preparation and presentation. Palm Public Library S Monterey They invite you to bring your own plants, pots, etc. to partici- Santa Rosa Osos pate in the demonstration. Don’t be shy! Higuera Chorro Morro 995 Palm Street San Luis Obispo CCCSS Show Best Of Categories NEWS FROM THE MARCH BOARD MEETING: Open Class - Best Cactus • Still waiting for everyone to get caught up on annual dues Open Class - Best Succulent • Show & Sale May 29th & 30th, still need volunteers Advanced Class - Best Cactus Advanced Class - Best Succulent • Please spread the word and put show fl yers up in your town Novice Class - Best Cactus • We will be awarding 10 more “Best Of” ribbons this year Novice Class - Best Succulent • We just had business cards made for our club. We will be distributing Outstanding Novice Euphorbia Rick and Karen James Outstanding Advanced Euphorbia Farm Supply these at our show & sale Outstanding Open Euphorbia Farm Supply • If you would like to receive your newsletter by e-mail instead of Best Baja Native Entry Grow Nursery regular mail, please let us know at the front desk - printing and mailing Best Caudiciform Entry CCCSS Best Collection CCCSS newsletters costs us about $1.00 per month each! Best Rookie Entry Rob Skillin Best Staged Entry Grow Nursery BOARD—MEETING Bested Crested Entry Farm Supply The next Board Meeting will be held on May 9’th right after our General Outstanding Ephiphyte Rhonda Grace Meeting. As always all members are welcome. Outstanding Gymnocalycium Bud & Ev’s C&S Outstanding Mammilaria Farm Supply Central Coast Cactus and Succulent Society Outstanding Agavaceae Grow Nursery e-mail: [email protected] Outstanding Echiveria Wayne Mills Outstanding Haworthia Farm Supply All submissions to the CCCSS newsletter must be submitted Outstanding Sansevieria Lee Eby two weeks prior to the monthly meeting. Outstanding Dish Garden Rick and Karen James

Top Dressing PRESIDENT VICE PRESIDENT SECRETARY CSSA AFFILIATE TREASURER Our annual Show & Sale is quickly approaching (May 29th & Gene Schroeder Nick Wilkinson Jan Moon Rob Skillin Edie Price 30th). In an effort to help our club members get their plants 929-2161 528-8880 927-1310 473-0788 489-8491 looking their best we are going to have top dressings available at the April and May meetings. There will be several different EDITOR ASST. EDITOR PUBLICITY LIBRARIANS HOSPITALITY types to choose from – red lava, black lava, crushed granite, Markus Mumper Nick Wilkinson Wayne Mills Martin Howell & Pat Gilson 481-5596 crushed brick, beige rock and green rock. All will be pack- 773-1499 528-8880 481-3495 Jeanne Hanysz Maggie Wagner 773-1499 aged in quart bags. For current members the first bag is free 544-5389 (one time only!!!), each additional bag is $1.00. For non-mem- A one time free newsletter will be mailed out to those who sign in at the monthly meetings. bers each bag is $2.00. After this dues must be paid in order to start a subscription. Upcoming Events May 15 Gates Cactus & Succulent Society Jurupa Mountains Cultural Center - 9:00am to 4:00pm 7621 Granite Hill Drive, Avon (909) 360-8802

May 15 - 16 Epiphyllum Society Show & Sale Los Angeles County Arboretum - 9:00am to 4:00pm 301 N. Baldwin Avenue, Arcadia (310) 670-8148

Ben Trogdon © May 16 EL CHOYERO SPEAKS: Huntington Botanical Gardens Plant Sale Huntington Botanical Gardens - 10:00am to 5:00pm Question: El Choyero, I buy a new plant from a grower and it looks great, but, after 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino (626) 405-2160 a year or two it stops growing and does not look so hot anymore. What gives? May 16 Answer: Hola Amigos and Amigas! Santa Barbara Cactus & Succulent Society Show & Sale There are many obvious reasons why this MacKenzie Park - 10:00am to 3:00pm happens - inappropriate soil, watering, light- Las Positas Road and MCCaw Avenue, Santa Barbara 15% off for all CCCSS members ing and temperatures, and/or pests and diseases. But there is one more growing condition that May 29 - 30 must be considered - irrigation water pH. Central Coast Cactus & Succulent Society Show & Sale pH is a measure of acidity or basicity and Ludwick Center - 10:00am to 5:00pm (29th), 10:00am to 4:00pm (30th) ranges from 0 (acidic) to 14 (basic). Pure wa- 864 Santa Rosa Street, San Luis Obispo (805) 473-0788 ter is neutral with a pH of 7, but the water that comes out of our hoses is never pure! June 5 - 6 Rain is slightly acidic because CO2 from the air has dissolved and becomes part of San Diego Cactus & Succulent Society Show & Sale the rain drop solution - plants love it. Casa del Prado, Room 101 - 10:00am to 5:00pm (5th), 10:00am to 4:00pm (6th) Most irrigation water, though, is ground wa- Balboa Park, San Diego (619) 477-4779 ter and has picked up (dissolved) various salts that occur in soil and rock. This makes ground water generally basic. June 12 - 13 Plants require nutrients (ions) from the soil to Los Angeles Cactus & Succulent Society Show & Sale survive. Nitrogen, phosphorus and potas- Sepulvida Garden Center - 9:00am to 5:00pm (12th), 9:00am to 4:00pm (13th) sium are the three biggies along with vari- 16633 Magnolia Boulevard, Encino (818) 363-3432 ous micro-nutrients. If these ions cannot be absorbed through the roots or the skin the plant is literally (well, in a sense) starving. For June 12 - 13 these ions to stay in solution in adequate San Francisco Cactus & Succulent Society Show & Sale amounts the water should be on the acidic WHEEL THROWN AND San Francisco County Fair Building side - a pH of around 5.5 to 6 is good for Richard Rowe 9th & Lincoln Way, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco HAND BUILT CERAMICS potter / artist plant nutrient uptake. EST. 1988 To lower the pH of your water try adding some vinegar prior to irrigating. Start with about one part household vinegar to sev- 7432 Exotic Garden Rd. enty five parts water. You can use litmus pa- Hospitality News Cambria, CA 93428 per to measure the actual pH. Sign up to bring refreshments and get a 4 inch plant!! You must sign the Hos- The P 805 924 1340 It may take up to a year to notice the im- pitality Sign-Up sheet and bring refreshments to get a plant. We need refresh- provements in your plants but I guaranty they will come! ments for each monthly meeting and we need to know who is bringing them. Clayworks [email protected] Thanks to everyone who has been contributing to the refreshment fund; dona- Adios! tions can be made at the refreshment table. ~Pat Plantae, Magnoliophyta, Liliopsida, , Agavaceae

Agave L., (a-GAH-vee) Greek - illustrious Our Show and Sale is Just Around the Corner! In the American continent, the have diverged into a number of important families of succulent plants, including the Agava- I would like to encourage everybody to bring at least one plant to the ceae which form distinctive rosettes and fl ower spikes. The Agavaceae show. We had a great turnout last year, but I know there are more of family includes Agave, Beschorneria, , Hesperaloe, Manfreda, you with nice plants to bring. Especially, I would like to see more nov- Polianthes, Prochnyanthes and Yucca. ices get involved - its fun! There are some special rosettes which are dedicated to the Novice category, including Best Rookie Plant. What The genera Beaucarnea, Calibanus, Dasylirion and Nolina were for- is a rookie? Someone who hasn’t shown before. Give it a try - you’ll like it! merly included in the Agavaceae but are now generally regarded as members of the Nolinaceae. The Old World Dracenaceae were also If you can’t make it to this month’s meeting, but would like to volun- once grouped with the Agavaceae family but are now in a family of teer to help out, give Pat Gilson a call at 481-5596. Volunteers get their own. special pricing on our next fi eld trip!

Over 300 species of Agave have been described but only about 200 Plant set-up for the show is Saturday morning, from 8:00 to 10:00. are currently recognized. Most species are monocarpic, although a Please, that means you are fi nished setting up by 10:00, not just show- few can fl ower several times during their life. The fl owers are “perfect” ing up at 10:00. The judging will start at 10:00 and runs for only 1 hour, with both male and female parts. Many species of Agave are bat pol- so they don’t have time to be delayed by late arrivers. linated and produce musky perfumes as attractants. Others produce sweeter odors to attract insects. There will be entry cards at the monthly meeting, and at the show Sat- urday morning. The show schedule will also be available, and I’ll get it Most Agave consist of rosettes of thick, hard, rigid leaves often with posted on our website also. marginal teeth and usually with a lethally sharp terminal spine. Prolifi c vegetative growth and offsetting at the base of the plant or through I hope to see each of you there; call me with questions or suggestions. stolons usually maintains a clump of plants thus compensating for the loss of fl owering rosettes. A few species remain solitary, relying on seed Rob Skillin production for survival of the species. Show Chair 473-0788 The interior of the leaves contains longitudinal fi bres representing the vascular system. Agave leaf fi bre was used by native Americans. Aga- ve fi bre from a range of species is of commercial importance, with the best quality fi bre coming from the youngest leaves. Sisal (hemp) made MISSING LIBRARY BOOKS from cultivated Agave sisalana is used to make clothing and rugs. The following books are missing from our library. Please take a look around your house and see if you might have forgotten to bring one back. Many of these are Carbohydrates stored in the core of popular books and other members would like a chance to read them too. several species of Agave (Maguey to the Aztecs) were fermented by Thanks! native Americans to make a Cacti & Succulents Step by Step Growing Success, by B. Kern beverage called pulque which was Cacti and Succulents, by Gunter Anderson used in religious ceremonies. Cactus & Succulents, by Sunset Magazine Distillation of a similar ferment made Epi Flora Vol 1&2 from the developing Agave fl ower Epiphyllum Basics How to Grow Epiphyllums for Beginners, by Sean Minogue bud is the basis for modern prod- Pachycaul and Caudiciforms, A Guide to Growing, by P. de Vosjoli uction of Mescal. Only if made from Stuck on Cactus; A Beginners Guide, by David E. Wright The Complete Book of Cacti and Succulents, by T. Hewitt the Blue Agave within Tequila, Mexico The Encyclopedia of Cacti, by Gerhard Groner can the distillate be called Tequila. The New Haworthia Handbook, by M.B. Bayer The Sansevieria Trifasciata Varieties, by B. Juan Chahinian Mayahuel - The goddess of Maguey