Open Gates A publication of the

Gates Cactus & Succulent Society October 2015

From the President: Fall season is officially upon us but that doesn’t mean you are done working

with the plant. For us succulent-lovers, there’s always something to do in the garden. We can look forward to enjoying the fall and winter succulents. As the cacti slows down their activities, many other succulents are beginning to grow and will bloom during the coming cooler months. Speaking of activities, the club will be preparing for many busy events in the upcoming months. For the many new members, here are some details of the activities to come. The field trip last month was a big success. There were close to forty members visiting the three nurseries on that hot and muggy Saturday. Everyone was amazed by those awe-inspiring cactus and succulent collections. Our hosts, Nick, Peter, and Petra, all expressed their delight with our presence. Thank you to the hosts for their hospitality and the yummy refreshments. Thank you for participating; you made the efforts all the more worthwhile. As always, if you have any new suggestions for future field trips, give me a shout. In the meantime, enjoy some pictures of our trip in this newsletter. If you have pictures you want to share with us on our website, please send them to Trisha Davis.

October’s mini-plant show takes a detour from the usual cactus and succulent entries. There will be our normal scheduled plant type PLUS - “Dead Plants” for show and competition. As the name implies, it’s an appreciation for the plant that once was; once did; and once lived. You can showcase your plant however you see fit for that once pristine succulent. Decorate to fit the theme of a Halloween celebration. Just be sure that the plant was once alive…otherwise we’ll make sure it doesn’t leave the show alive. This competition is meant to be fun, so have fun. The club’s annual fall BBQ and cactus cook-off is set for October 10, 2015. We will have it at Judy Horne’s home in Yucaipa starting at 4 PM. This will be a pot-luck event so bring your best entrée, salad or dessert to share. Bring two if you want. The club will provide some BBQ burgers and hot dogs, drinks and utensils. BYOB if you wish but please make sure to have a designated driver with you. As the title “cook-off” implies, we will also have a succulent dish contest. Bring your best succulent and/or cactus cooking dish for the cook-off.

President 909-910-9195 Phuc Huynh Director 909-797-8214 Kim Urman

e-mail: huynhphu@excite.com Director 909-380-6671 Connie Ramirez

Vice President 909-824-2147 Diana Roman Dir/Editor 760-881-0184 Trisha Davis Treasurer 951-369-7180 Karen Roholt Director 909-503-3657 Ray Cardenas Secretary 909-234-4388 Linda McConnell Librarian 951-682-3795 Karen Fleisher Past President 909-783-2477 Don McGrew Greeter 951-781-8205 Teresa Wassman Membership 951-369-7180 Karen Roholt S&S Chair 909-910-9195 Phuc Huynh Leadership Team 2015

Sweepstakes Winner

Plants of the Month

Cacti: Crests/Monstrose/ Variegates

AND Dead Plants

Succulents: Crests/Monstrose/ Variegates AND Dead Plants

Save the Date!

Oct. 10 Annual BBQ &

Cactus Cook-Off Party Saturday October 10 OCT. 24-25 Palomar show and sale Saturday 9-5, Sunday 10-4, San Diego Botanic Gardens

NOV. 1-2 San Gabriel Cactus and Succulent Society Show and Sale Show and Sale---LA COUNTY ARBORETUM.

NEXT MEETING, WEDNESDAY, October 7th at 7:00 PM

AT THE REDLANDS CHURCH OF THE NAZARENE 1307 E CITRUS AVE, IN

REDLANDS, CA

From the President Con’t. Everyone at the party will vote for their favorite dish and the winners will get bragging rights. There are a few remaining succulent show and sales remaining on the calendar year. The Palomar CSS show/sale is this month and the San Gabriel CSS show/sale is in November. These are two popular events so mark your calendar accordingly. Other club events will be discussed at the meeting so come with your dead plant! Phuc

Our October Speaker

Tom Glavich " The High Drakensbergs in Summer" The Drakenberg Mountains for the border between South Africa and the Independent kingdom of Lesotho. It has unique flora, much of it alpine, with succulents, scenery and flowers not often seen. Much of Lesotho has never been botanically explored, and new species of plants are still being found. This will be a tour through the mountains concentrating on the succulent and bulbous flora. Tom Glavich is a member of the Cactus and Succulent Society of America and is author of the series of "Beginner's Guide" articles in To The Point. He is a member of the San Gabriel Valley Cactus and Succulent Society, and is one of the co-chairs of the Inter-City Cactus and Succulent Show held each August at the Los Angeles County Arboretum. This has become the largest and most competitive show in the country.

Mini Show Results September 2015

Succulent - Miniatures Novice Small 1st Dioscorea Elephantipes – Karl Trisler 2nd Dorstenia longitolia – Sandy Wall 3rd Echeveria Purpusorum – Sandy Wall Advanced Small 1st Adromischus marianiae herrei red coral – Greg and Anna Cavanaugh 2nd Euphorbia capsaintemariensis – David Hawks 3rd Avonia alstonii – Rob MacGregor Large 1st Bombax ellipticum – Bob Laughlin 2nd Calibanis hookeri – Bob Laughlin 3rd Adenium obesum – Bob Laughlin

Cacti – Miniatures Novice Small 1st Uebelmannia Pectinifera – Nick Hammer 2nd Ariocarpus Fissuratus – Karl Trisler 3rd Rebutia heliosa – Karl Trisler Advanced Small 1st Sclerocactus papyracanthus – Rob MacGregor 2nd Turbinicarpus viereckii – Greg and Anna Cavanaugh 3rd Epithehantha Bokei – Tony Marino

Kitchen Duty for October Connie Ramirez and Alice Beardsley

Guest Judge for October Epigmenio and Diana Roman

ANNUAL BARBEQUE Like Phuc mentioned in his message, the BBQ will be held at Jerry & Judy Horne's this year. Plan to arrive at around 4:00 so you can tour around Judy's wonderful succulent plantings. The Cactus Cook-off tasting will start at 4:30. Every member is invited to bring a dish to taste with at least one succulent plant ingredient. The club provides, Hamburgers, Hot Dogs and Chicken, plus soft drinks and sodas. Members bring side dishes and desserts, on top of the cactus cook off dishes. DIRECTIONS: from the 10 freeway towards Redlands, Exit 83 to Yucaipa Blvd. Turn North onto Yucaipa Blvd towards Crafton Hills College, turn left at Hampton rd. and turn right onto Overcrest dr. Their home is marked on the map with the red pin. 12212 Overcrest Dr. Yucaipa, CA 92399

CACTUS RESCUE Just a reminder about our cactus rescue program; it's a great way for our members to acquire new

specimens at a relatively low cost, and all funds go directly to our club. If you or anybody you know

want to donate plants or an entire collection, contact Ray Cardenas or any other board

member. We will collect and transport the plants, make arrangements for their care, prepare them for sale, and make them available to our club.

Ray Cardenas

Monsters Buck Hemenway Every so often, Mother Nature gets it wrong, or different, or just messes up. We are constantly reminded by the presenters at our meetings, that there is never one exact way for a plant to look. Variability of the genetic code when one plant’s pollen is introduced to another plant is what makes them interesting and different. Occasionally Mom gets wild with her design and gives us really different variations on the norm. Many plant lovers and scientists consider Crested, monstrose and other genetic differences to be too far from normal and discard those from the seed batches. Cactus & Succulent people are not of that mind. The crazier the deviation from normal the better for us. So, in this month, when we celebrate the best Dead Plant, we will also get to look at the wildest genetic weirdness that Mom can produce. We have lumped all three basic deviations into the same basket. Plants can be entered in the Mini-Show if they exhibit crested, monstrose or variegated leaves and or stems. The plant must have at least 30% of the deviant form to qualify for the show. Judging this miasma is not a simple task, but viewing it is always an exciting experience. In particular, crested and monstrose plants have a much harder time growing than normal ones. Usually, plants grow from the tips of their branches. New little special cells are always forming at the very tip or apical growing point or meristem and that’s what causes a plant to get bigger. Just imagine then that if instead of one apical point at the tip of each stem, you had a line (the crest) maybe 15 inches long that served the same purpose. It would be much harder to grow when the roots must supply energy to that whole crest instead of a few branches.

Monstrose growth is even worse. The plant can’t decide where its growing point is and actually creates new growing points all over the plant. That’s why many monstrose cacti for example, never get spines and some never bloom. It’s because every areole has decided to become the apical growing point and as such has no time or energy for normal functions such as spines and flowers.

Variegated growth brings its own hazards to normal growth. Much variegation is supplied courtesy of a plant virus. Whether or not it is virus caused, it is obvious that the variegated part of the plant does not have as much green (chlorophyll) in it as the non variegated part. That makes most variegated plants much more slow growing than their healthy cousins and more sensitive to the sun. We should remember that some plants are variegated as a normal growing form.

In general, the Monsters are less hardy than their normal counterparts.

They get the same pests and tend to have a more difficult time with them.

Usually, a plant will contain abnormal and normal growth. In many cases a crested plant will send enough “normals” to cause them to outstrip the crest and soon, it will not be visible. The normal growth will always be more vigorous than the abnormal. It is recommended that one cut the normal growth off of a Monster, so that the abnormal growth persists and is what one sees.

There seems to be no word in the English language as monstrose. We would write Pachycereus schottii monstrosus as the proper binomial name of the Totem Pole cactus in the pseudo-latin. The term monstrose is commonly used to describe the condition defined by monstrosus. Likewise “cristata” is used to define the crested stated in a binomial and “variegata”

for a variegate.

Haageocereus pseudodomelanostele cristata

Echeveria crest

Pachycereus schottii

Mammillaria bocasana

Senecio talinoides cristata

Pachycereus schottii monstrosus

Mammillaria bocasana monstrosus “Fred”

Plants of the Month

Cacti Succulents October Crests/Monstrose/Variegates Crests/Monstrose/Variegates

Up Coming Cactus & Succulent Events

OCT. 10th Annual BBQ & Cactus Cook-Off Party Saturday October 10, 2015

Potluck dinner Time: 4Pm At Judy Horne's Home in Yucaipa, CA

OCT. 24-25 Palomar show and sale Saturday 9-5, Sunday 10-4, San Diego Botanic Gardens 230 QUAIL GARDENS RD, ENCINITAS… INFO hciservices@gmail.com. 858-382-1797 NOV. 1-2 San Gabriel Cactus and Succulent Society 9am-4pm BOTH DAYS Show and Sale---LA COUNTY ARBORETUM.

Pictures from our last month’s field trip….

Peter's garden/nursery

Plant purchase at Petra's nursery

At Rick’s home Trisha suggested Dustin should

smell the bloom….

Group Photo!

2016 Mid States Conference (MSC,) Denver, Colorado Hosted by the Colorado Cactus & Succulent Society

Information for general distribution

Scheduled dates of Conference: June 9, 10 and 11, 2016 and June 12, optional Conference registration fee $100.00. Early registration before May 2016, $85.00. Venue for Conference: The Double Tree by Hilton

13696 E. Iliff Place, Aurora, CO 80014 Room rates and other adjacent hotels and restaurants to be listed at a later date. Schedule of Conference events:

Thursday, June 9 from noon till 10:00pm Registration, noon to 10:00pm

Social gathering: 5:30pm to late ( hors-d’oeuvres, drinks, etc.)

Plant presale raffle tickets sold from 5:00 to 6:30pm.

Plant and pottery presale: 6:30 - 7:00pm

Plant and pottery sale open to all: 7:00 - 10:00pm

Friday, June 10 from 8:00am – 5:00pm Registration: all morning till noon (full conference or 1 day registration)

Plant and pottery sales open all day: 8:00am - 5:00pm

Conference Opening and welcome: 8:30am - 9:00am

Presentations: 9:00am - 11:30 am & 1:00pm - 5:00pm

Lunch from 11:30 am - 1:00pm

Dinner possibly provided, or on your own (to be determined)

Saturday June 11from 9:00 am – 5:00pm and 7:00pm – 10:00pm Registration: all morning till noon (1 day registration only)

Plant and pottery sales: 8:00am - 4:30pm, registers close at 5:00pm

Presentations from 9:00am - 11:30am & 1:00pm - 5:00pm

Dinner Banquet: 6:30pm social, dinner 7:00pm – 8:30pm

Dinner presentation: “It’s All About the People” 8:00pm – 8:30pm

Plant, Pottery and Art auction: 8:30pm to 9:30pm

Close Conference at 9:30pm -10:00pm

Sunday, June 12, return home or attend various field trips Field trips from 8:00am - 4:00pm, 1-2 hour or half day, or full day options.

Some field trips may require a fee.

Presenters, plant and pottery venders to be announced at a later date. There will be 10 well known

expert speakers. Subjects range from Cold Hardies to Show Plant Staging and Plant Propagation to Rock and

Succulent gardens. Our presenters will also take us to many special habitats around the world where we will

see many of the succulent plants we grow. Some of these presenters are among the best in the C&S world!

“Denver, What better place to be in the month of June!” LET’S HAVE FUN!

For more information please contact, Co-Conference Chairs: Randy Tatroe rtatroe@q.com 303-699-8958 or Woody Minnich cactusdata@msn.com 661-406-9816

From: Gates Cactus & Succulent Society

13312 Ranchero Rd. Ste 18 Pmb 333

Oak Hills CA 92344

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