CACTUS CORNER NEWS · CACTUS CORNER NEWS Fresno Cactus & Succulent Society http: Vol. 32, No. 5...

CACTUS CORNER NEWS Fresno Cactus & Succulent Society

http: www.fresnocss.org

Affiliated with the Cactus & Succulent Society of America Vol. 32, No. 5 May 2015

ANNUAL SUMMER POTLUCK THURSDAY, MAY 7TH, 6:00 P.M.

We will be at Doris Hooton’s and Tom Meyer’s home again, 3733 North Sierra Vista, Fresno. The club will supply the meat (carne asada and chicken) beans, rice and lots of tortillas, plus the paper plates, plastic utensils, cups, etc. Sign-‐up sheets were passed around at last month’s meeting, or if you didn’t get a chance to sign-‐up, please bring appetizers, salads, desserts, or drinks to share and remember to bring a chair or two. We are also going to have the Silent Auction so be sure to bring something, preferably cactus related items, for the bidding table. All sales benefit the club. And, make sure to bring your blooming Adeniums and learn to pollinate your plants or have the experts go to work trying to pollinate them. Producing seeds from our plants is something we should all be trying to do.

OUR 50TH ANNIVERSARY 1965 - 2015

Photos by Dennis Anderson & Mary Ann Villegas

Fresno Cactus & Succulent Society Cactus Corner News May 2015

FROM THE PREZ …

HI, All,

We’re having our club picnic this month, instead of a regular meeting. In May, not July? Yes, we decided to try an earlier date for this outdoor event, given that we have seen declining attendance in recent years due to the midsummer heat. We are also doing something a bit different in having a Mexican theme — the club will supply taco fixings from Vallarta. Members should bring an appetizer, salad or dessert. So come out and join us. We always have a good time. Be sure to bring your own chairs (and an extra, if you can.)

We will also have a silent auction as a fundraiser; donate plant-‐related items, if you wish. Come ready to bid!

Our traditional “Adenium Orgy” will be held, also. If you have a blooming adenium, bring it in to learn how to pollinate it.

As usual, we owe tremendous gratitude to Doris Hooton and Tom Meyer for donating their large backyard for our event. Hope to see you there.

Our spring garden tour was Saturday, April 25th—and who would have thought it would rain! And a pretty good rain it was, too. Still, it did affect attendance, even though our members can usually tough out bad weather. I remember a tour years ago on a very cold, stormy day in April. A large group crowded into Jack Fleming’s greenhouse in the rain, I recall. Later that day, driving back from Mark Muradian’s place, my windshield was splattered with sleet as we drove up Hwy 99. We owe a lot of thanks to Fred Gaumer and Tom Meyer for offering their gardens and greenhouses for inspection this year.

June 6-‐7 is our annual Show and Sale at Sierra Vista Mall. One aspect of it that I haven’t mentioned yet is our Club Sale Table—a table where we sell plants, pots, books, etc., donated by our members. You are all welcome to help with this by donating or by assisting at the table. Do you have some gardening books you don’t use anymore? Consider donating them; or how about duplicates of some of your plants? We could use them, as well. There will be more information on the show and sale in the June newsletter.

Your outdoor plants got a good drink of rainwater last Saturday. As you look around your yard and plant collections, you can see that so many things have leapt into growth. All of us in town await our new watering restrictions. This will be a challenging year for us and our plants.

Hope to see you at the picnic. Sue

Club access: President, Sue Haffner, 292-5624, [email protected]; Programs, Rosanna Rojas, 999-0017, [email protected]; Treasurer, Robert Scott, 960-3665, [email protected]; Editor, Sue Haffner, 292-5624, [email protected]; Refreshments, Marian Orvis, 226-0145, [email protected]; Librarian, Madeleine Mitchell, 638-2784, [email protected]; Webmaster, Vickie Veen; Sunshine, Carole Grosch, 323-8602, [email protected] .

Photo by Mary Ann Villegas


BOARD MEETING: Monday, May 11, 6 p.m., 3733 N. Sierra Vista, Fresno. Any member may attend; board members should attend.

FRESNO CACTUS & SUCCULENT SOCIETY BOARD MEETING April 6, 2015

President Sue Hafner called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. Attendance: Robert Scott, Treasurer; Cindy Duwe, Secretary; Joanna Rojas, Vice President; Fred Gaumer, CSSA Affiliate Representative; Tom Meyer, Board Member; Rudy Rulloda, Board Member; Carole Grosch, Board Member; Polly Dunklin, Board Member; Mary Drumheller, Board Member; Ann Bierbower, Board Member. Visitors: Susan Cook, Doris Hooton

Officer Reports: Sue introduced Ann Bierbower as the new Board Member replacing Larry Homan. Larry resigned from the Board due to time constraints. The new Facebook Chairperson is Karen Willoughby. These were items left after the meeting: a jacket, a cap and a tray. Joanna replaced Larry with Ernesto Sandoval as the June speaker. Robert reported that the balance for the club as of March 1, 2015 is $9,558.66.

Officer Reports: Susan Cook asked that the 25% vendor fees be lowered for the Home and Garden Show. This item was tabled until the next meeting. Sue informed the Board that the contract for participation in the upcoming Home and Garden Show needs to be signed and returned. Fred informed the Board that the Tilandsia Gardens is not open on weekends. The members planned to stop there on the way to or from his house. He said the iris place is open in Yosemite Lakes Park and members could visit there. Polly reported that the club is providing Spanish food for the May 7 Picnic. Members are encouraged to bring additional dishes, refreshments and chairs. Cindy Duwe reported that there will be 7 club vendors and 3 outside vendors for the Show and Sale on June 6-‐7, 2015. An addition to the club banner was discussed. The club’s 50th anniversary is this year. “Growing since 1965” was mentioned as a possibility. Polly will also add the 50th anniversary announcement to the postcards for the Show and Sale. Mary will purchase a sheet cake for the May 7 Picnic honoring the 50th anniversary. Robert sent in the ad with congratulations to CSSA from FCSS.

New Business: Sue announced the Water-‐wise Plant Exchange event to be held at CSUF on May 2, 2015. It will be held in the Greenhouse on Maple and Barstow. She announced that there will be a Heritage Fresno event at the Discovery Center saluting the old Roessler Winery and cactus garden. Sue said the club has the opportunity to work with the Chaffee Zoo in the African Savanna exhibit.

Respectfully submitted, Cindy Duwe, Secretary


BRAG TABLE: Madeleine Mitchell brought a nice Gasteria verrucosa; Rudy Rulloda displayed Agave lophantha; Mark Muradian brought Pachypodium brevicaule x densiflorum and an amazing Agave titanota crest; Sue Haffner showed Agave ‘Snow Princess’; Linda Lopez exhibited a nice form of Euphorbia decaryi; Bill Gale brought Pachypodium eburnum, P. brevicaule, P. densiflorum x brevicaule, Agave victoriae-‐ Anderson showed a gorgeous Echinopsis Schick hybrid; Mary Drumheller brought a nice selection of agaves; Fred Gaumer showed Echinocereus ferreirianus lindsayi, Avonia quinaria, Aztekium ritteri, Pelecyphora asselliformis, Ruschia pulvinaris and an ear of crested corn.

CLUB WORKSHOP: At the March workshop we traded some tips about where to find good deals on supplies. You can find bags of zip-‐ties at the dollar store sometimes. These can be useful to “sew” together disparate pieces of shade cloth. You can also get spring clamps, both plastic and metal, at the same place (useful for holding up the aforementioned shade cloth.) Ann Bierbower displayed some nice sieves that she found online at a site for gold-‐panning supplies. Stackable sifting pans they’re called; ¼” screen, they fit over a 5-‐gallon bucket. In addition, of course, we also looked at a number of nice plants brought by the attendees. The May workshop will be Wednesday, May 20th; 6 p.m., at 3733 N. Sierra Vista. All members are welcome to attend,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Fred Gaumer, Jennifer Meadows (2nd}; Jack Loughmiller (5th); Valerie Kissler (7th); Tom Meyer (11th); Don Martin (15th); Ron Stebles (17th); Charlie Nelson (23rd); Madeleine Mitchell (25th).

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Welcome This New Member: Cheryl Berman, Fresno

Visitors last month: Cheryl Berman, Nicki Bradford, Christine Casey.

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Corrections to the club roster: Paula Singer’s email is: [email protected] Karen Willoughby’s email is: [email protected] Report any other corrections to Polly Dunklin.

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Left in the meeting room last month: an athletic type jacket that was draped over a chair. If it was yours, get in touch with Sue Haffner. Also, a member’s husband thinks he left his cap in the room, though nobody found one. It’s like a truck driver’s cap, heavy fabric, with a label that it was made in Brazil. Let us know if you found it.

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COMING EVENTS

May 2nd, Water-‐Wise Plant Exchange, CSUF Horticulture Unit, Barstow at Chestnut Aves;

8 a.m. to noon.

May 2nd, Heritage Fresno, “Drink it in” event at the Discovery Center, honoring the Roessler Winery building; $5.00; wine tasting, tours of the grounds

and cactus gardens; 2-‐5 p.m.

May 2-‐3, Sacramento C&S Society show and sale, Sacramento Garden Center, 3330 McKinley Blvd.;

hours: Sat. 9-‐5 (sale); 10-‐5 (show); Sun. 9-‐4.

May 9-‐10, Long Beach C&S Society Show & Sale, Rancho Los Alamitos, 6400 Bixby Hill Rd,

Long Beach; Sat. 10-‐4; Sun. 10-‐3.

May 16-‐17, Carmichael C&S Society show & sale, Carmichael Park Clubhouse, 5750 Grant Ave.,

Carmichael; hours: 9-‐3.

Photos by Mary Ann Villegas

Photos by Polly Dunklin


FC&SS at Clovis Botanical Garden's Spring Event

A few weeks after the club's participation at the annual Home and Garden Show, earlier in March, we were setting up our tent at the Clovis Botanical Garden's "Spring Into Your Garden Festival." The event was held Saturday, March 28, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The weather cooperated by being comfortably warm and sunny. Sponsored by the Fresno Metropolitan Flood Control District, over 400 guests attended the family-‐friendly event.

"We had a very nice turnout," says Susan Stiltz, certified arborist and garden consultant.

There was something for everyone. Horticultural experts gave tours, answered questions and held educational presentations. Our own Madeleine Mitchell gave a presentation about using succulents for drought tolerant gardening. A plant sale did a lively business selling California native water wise plants. Walking tours with certified arborist Stiltz and the garden's Board President, Anne Clemons, was enjoyed by many.

Vendors and exhibitors, such as the Fresno Bonsai Club, Audubon Society, Takao Nursery, the Iris Society, animal rescue groups and many more were on hand. Casa de Tamales and PR Fusion catering services sold lunch. Over 50 volunteers helped direct visitors, answer questions and carry out purchases. Mary Drumheller and Polly Dunkin did a great job of representing the club. They answered questions, told visitors about our upcoming Show and Sale and generously gave out small specimen plants. "A lot of people wanted to know about how to care for plants," says Drumheller. "We had a lot of questions about watering." UCCE Master Gardeners of Fresno County held a plant clinic with water conservation being a hot topic. A few suggestions were to check your watering systems, sprinklers, drip lines, timers, etc., to make sure there they are working properly and know the needs of your plants to prevent over-‐watering. A list of native plants was available, with many of them labeled and flourishing in the garden as mature specimens. Herb Thorne's donated collection was happily growing in its new home. Not all the exhibits were horticultural. Pat Hunter of Gallery II Studio was there with her beautiful artwork and books. The City of Clovis Public Utilities and City of Fresno Water Conservation had tips on preserving natural resources, conserving water and handed out informational flyers, water reducers and sustainable shopping bags. Bee Guys 4 U gave out honey samples. Of course, you could just relax and wander along the walking trails of the garden, enjoying the beautiful day and scenery. Clovis Botanical Garden was the inspiration of Gordon Russell, a Clovis resident, who, in 1993, had the desire to create a demonstration botanical garden in the San Joaquin Valley. He wanted an emphasis on education and water conservation while showing native plants for residents to enjoy. (Continued on following page.)

Photo by Carol Grosch


He presented this idea to the Clovis City Council and non-‐profit status was granted to the Clovis Botanical Committee, Inc., by 1995. The current site is on one-‐acre of land owned by the City of Clovis. Located at 945 N. Clovis Avenue, between Alluvial and Nees, the area is bordered by a bike trail and Dry Creek Park.

Plans are in the works for expansion; in fact, during the Festival, the ribbon was cut for the newly planted Mediterranean Garden.

The Clovis Botanical Garden is open Wednesday through Sunday, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., closed Mondays and Tuesdays. For additional information, call 559-‐298-‐3091. Carole Grosch

~~~~~~~~~~~~ SOME SMALL AGAVES

Some of you were no doubt inspired last month by Greg Starr’s program on agaves, but you were thinking that you don’t have enough room for agaves. True, some of them reach massive proportions. But there are a number of very attractive species that will not outgrow a small yard or even a large planter—and some of them are not lethally armed with spines.

Planting an agave requires some strategic thinking as to placement. Make sure any terminally-‐spined varieties are not so close to the sidewalk as to injure passers-‐by. If you use a heavy planter, make sure to place it where it will stay—unless you have access to moving equipment (human or mechanical.) Trust me: I’ve made every mistake possible when placing and planting agaves in my small yard. (On the other hand, I’ve learned that most of even the big ones don’t have extensive root systems, so that I could hoist them out of the dirt with a pry-‐bar.)

The most common small agave that we see in our area is Agave parryi, characterized by blue-‐gray leaves that form a round rosette usually less than two feet tall. It offsets, of course, but not so heavily that it should ever get out of control. The offsets are easy to detach, as they sprout far enough from “mama” that you can get your hand around them to pull them up. This frost-‐tolerant species is native to northern Mexico and Arizona. One unusual thing is that parryi rarely blooms in our area. In fact, the only one in bloom that I’ve seen was at U.C. Davis, on our club field trip a few years ago. For such a small plant, it sends up a very robust flower stalk. There are several varieties of parryi: var. truncata features nearly round leaves held in a tight rosette and var. couesii is the smallest, rarely growing larger than eight inches tall.

The tiniest of all agaves is A. toumeyana ssp. bella. Rarely over six inches tall, this central Arizona native is also frost-‐hardy. It has dark green leaves marked with white, the margins featuring curled white filaments. Two other small species, parviflora and polianthiflora look very similar to toumeyana bella, distinguishable only by their flowers.

One of the most recognizable of the small agaves is A. victoriae-‐reginae, well known for its tight rosette of thick, deeply keeled, dark green leaves variously lined with white. The leaves have no marginal teeth but end in a pair of short, black spines. This Mexican species is hardy to 0 degrees. It makes an outstanding specimen in a desert garden or in a container. You find examples with variant growth habits, some more open, some showing different color patterns. Generally, this species doesn’t offset, but some do (referred to as “var. prolifera”, or something similar.) There are also yellow-‐variegated selections, some with cultivar names. These are generally smaller than the species.

(Continued on next page.)



Agave victoriae-‐reginae has hybridized with A. scabra to form a hybrid group that is sometimes listed under the name A. ferdinandi-‐regis. Most famous of these is ‘Sharkskin’ (or ‘Sharkskin Shoes’) which has dusky gray to gray-‐green leaves that can grow to 30 inches long, with smooth margins and a solitary terminal spine. The hybridizers are still busy with these, as I have a plant called ‘Little Shark’ that I found at Evergreen Nursery. The San Marcos Growers website (www.smgrowers.com) has an interesting page on the origin of the ‘Sharkskin’ varieties. Bottom line: they all are ornamental and well worth growing.

Agave macroacantha is less well-‐known than some of the other small agaves but it makes an arresting specimen. Its narrow, blue-‐gray leaves contrast with regularly spaced deep purple marginal teeth and a prominent black spine. Native to Oaxaca, it is hardy to 25 degrees and might need a bit of protection from the afternoon sun in our area.

Two small agaves that are frequently confused are A. striata and A. stricta. Both are characterized by very narrow, stiff leaves with sharp terminal spines. A. striata (sometimes listed as A. echinoides) is usually grown in a pot around here. It differs from A. stricta by having a more open growth habit and straighter leaves (“like knitting needles”—Plant Delights catalog.) It is native to a wide area on both sides of the Sierra Madre Oriental in northern Mexico. A potted specimen with its leaves in a wide fan makes a major statement. A. stricta produces a rounded tight rosette of hundreds of strongly recurved leaves. I have had one growing in my driveway bed for years, subject to the harsh, discouraging conditions there. It survives full, blazing sun, very little irrigation and whatever winter might throw at it. It grows with A. parryi, upright rosemary, sedum, delosperma and Astrophytum ornatum. Its habitat is dry limestone formations and dry hills in the state of Puebla in the Tehuacan Valley.

Another plant in that bed is Agave filifera, a small to medium-‐sized species that has dark green leaves marked by white bud imprints. The leaf margins are smooth but have abundant fine, recurved filaments. It normally clumps but my plant, jammed between two rocks, hasn’t done so. The species has been under cultivation for several centuries, and was described from plants grown in European gardens, which has led to confusion as to its origin; records exist from the states of Hidalgo and San Luis Potosi. It has a variety called multifilifera which has a dense proliferation of delicate filaments that almost obscure the leaves. In researching this article, I was surprised to find that one of my favorite agaves, A. schidigera, is considered by some authors to be a form of filifera.

Agave lophantha is a small-‐grower that does very well in our area (too well, some might say.) It offsets enthusiastically and is the perfect plant for an area where nothing else will grow (and an area where you may want to discourage foot traffic.) It has narrow, very sharp, dark green leaves with a yellowish mid-‐stripe and white marginal teeth. Reportedly, it has hybridized in habitat with A. lechuguilla to produce some attractive forms but these are not generally available in commerce. They offset so much that it’s hard to say just how big a specimen can get, and I’ve never seen one in flower.

These are just a few possibilities when it comes to choosing agaves for your collection. Sue



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CACTUS CORNER NEWS · CACTUS CORNER NEWS Fresno Cactus & Succulent Society http: Vol. 32, No. 5...

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