MEETINGS: Fourth Thursday each month, 7:00 p.m. * Unless otherwise noted WHERE: San Joaquin County Building 2707 Transworld Drive Stockton, California *NEXT MEETING: Thursday, September 22

nd, 2016

PRE MEETING DINNER: Denny’s Restaurant

Arch Road location 5:30 p.m.

STOCKTON CACTUS & SUCCULENT SOCIETY

C/O BRIAN POOT

5617 ANADA COURT

SALIDA, CA 95368

STOCKTON CACTUS & SUCCULENT SOCIETY

NEWSLETTER

SEPTEMBER 2016

2016 BOARD:

President: Lesley Slayter (209) 679-3078 lesley_shores@yahoo.com

Vice President: Mary Bertken (209) 669-8846 mombquilt3@gmail.com

Treasurer: Roelyn Poot (209) 599-7241 billroelynpoot@gmail.com

Secretary: Faye Sutton (209) 620-5406 sutton5591@charter.net

Board Members: Jerry Slayter, Dawn Dalyce & Kathy Ackerman

Newsletter: Brian Poot (209) 679-8899 jeffgordonfan24@sbcglobal.net

BOARD MEETINGS: Please note, board meetings will now be held the second Wednesday of each month, at 7:00 p.m., except in December, or if that date conflicts with something else. Anyone is welcome to attend, but please call first to let them know you will be coming to make sure of the date. Thanks!

We can always use new ideas & opinions for the club, as well as help

with behind the scenes stuff. If you are interested, please come to a

board meeting. Thx!

MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION: Individual $20/yr Family $25/yr Contributing $35/yr Patron $50/yr

Membership runs January-December. Complimentary Jan. & Feb. issue if unpaid.

All dues should be sent

to the treasurer before

the February general

meeting.

CALENDAR:

September 14th - Board Meeting at the Poot’s 7:00 p.m. 22nd - General Meeting 7:00pm: Country Store October 11th - Board Meeting at the Poot’s 7:00 p.m. 27th - General Meeting 7:00pm: JD Wikert - Sedums

November - NO MEETINGS

OTHER UPCOMING EVENTS: (not club related)

None

SUNSHINE REPORT:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to: Jerry Slayter, JD Wikert, Pam Fish, Dawn Dalyce &

Marika Campbell.

THIS MONTHS PROGRAM: Country Store

Come for the fun! This month's meeting is our annual Country Store! There is no regular meeting, no mini show, and no trivia question. We will set up tables around the room, each for a different category of items, all donated by you, our Club members. Raffle tickets will only cost 50 cents. You will receive both halves of your tickets, one half you will deposit in the containers on the tables where the items you cannot live without are located. You will retain the other half of your tickets and when your number is called, you select an item from the table where your number was drawn. The departments in the Country Store are: Cactus, Succulents, House and Garden Plants, Garden Accessories (pots, tools, labels, potting mix, etc), Edibles (garden produce like fruits and veggies and Sweetshop items like cookies, pieces of cake, pie, etc, each individually wrapped in see-through plastic wrap) "food items prepared with peanuts or walnuts should be so noted on the wrapper to avoid allergy problems". The Club will provide water and soft drinks, but your snacks will come from the raffle items on the Edibles table. We will also have a silent auction table for items with cactus themes such as books, glasses, salt and peppers, towels, knick-knacks, and of course, larger plants, pottery, etc. A sheet of paper and a pencil will be located next to each item and during the evening write your name and your bid in dollar increments on the bid sheet. Feel free to bid repeatedly and often on any or all of the auction items. Approximately a half an hour before the end of the evening the bidding will be closed and the person who ends up with the last (highest) bid prior to the close of the auction will be the happy winner of that item. The Country Store is a fun time. Bring some items to donate, buy lots of tickets, bid on the Silent Auction, and enjoy the evening. Bring your donated items early and bring a friend along. Most important, be sure to bring a big box for all your winnings.

*Reminder to Shirley Tunick & Susan Tanis (drinks), this is your month to bring refreshments.

*Reminder that we need someone to volunteer to be the greeter this month. Greenwood 3 room.

PLANT PROTECTION!

There is a chill in the air in the early mornings which is a reminder that we all need to be thinking of how we are going to protect our winter sensitive plants. October is the best time to be moving potted plants onto the patio, close to the house. The plants in the ground can be covered with burlap, old bed sheets or old towels. There also is a frost cloth that can be purchased if you would like. If you are not sure about some of your plants, take a picture and bring it along to the club meeting. You can ask Bill or Brian Poot or Barb Coelho for advice.

May your plants have a safe winter!

2017 CLUB BOARD MEMBER NOMINATIONS:

President: Open Vice President: Open Treasurer: Roelyn Poot Secretary: Open Board Members: Open, Open & Open

It is that time of year again that we need to nominate people to be on the board. If anyone would like to put their name in for the board please let one of the current board members know. If you would like to know what a job intales please check with a board member. We will be voting to approve the slate of officers & board members for 2017 at the October meeting. We need new people to step up to fill positions or the club will not be able to function next year. We specifically need someone to fill the President roll for next year, so any past

Board members please think about filling that roll. Thank you!

AUGUST MINI SHOW RESULTS:

Novice Division, Cacti: 1st - Ron Bradshaw w/ Tephrocactus alexanderi v. geometricus

2nd

- Mike Bradshaw w/ Dolichothele surculosa

Novice Division, Succulent: 1st - Joan Stewart w/ Haworthia sp.

2nd

- Mike Bradshaw w/ Trichodiadema bulbosum

3rd

- Ron Bradshaw w/ Aloe sp.

Novice Division, Blooming: 1st - Mike Bradshaw w/ Uncarina roeoesliana

2nd

- Joan Stewart w/ Aeonium rubrolineata

Advanced Division, Cacti: NON ENTERED

Advanced Division, Succulent: NON ENTERED

Advanced Division, Blooming: NON ENTERED

Open Division, Cacti: NON ENTERED

Open Division, Succulent: 1st - Bill Poot w/ Haworthia truncata

2nd

- Bill Poot w/ Haworthia nigra

3rd

- Brian Poot w/ Haworthia rigida variegated

Open Division, Blooming: 1st - Bill Poot w/ Caralluma hexagona

2nd

- Bill Poot w/ Haworthia truncata variegated

3rd

- Roelyn Poot w/ Haworthia maughanii

Allied Interest: 1st - Ron Bradshaw w/ Adromischus marianae

MONTHLY MINI SHOW: OPEN TO ANY CLUB MEMBERS THAT WANT TO SHOW PLANTS! The mini show, held at the general meetings, is a time when you can bring your plants, to compete against other members’ plants. There are 10 categories: Cacti & Succulent, (Open, Advanced & Novice Divisions), Bloomers (anything in bloom, also three divisions) & Allied Interest (dish gardens or natural planters). You may bring up to 2 from each category. The forms for judging are available to take home so that you can fill them out prior to the meeting if you wish, or there will be some at the meeting as well. The plants are judged by the members attending that meeting; whoever receives the most votes wins that months mini show & will get their name in the next newsletter. The person(s) receiving the most votes at the end of the year will receive a gift from the club.

WE ENCOURAGE ALL MEMBERS TO BRING PLANTS TO SHOW THROUGHOUT THE YEAR!

FYI: The mini show categories are Novice - those with fewer than 5 years of showing in the mini-show. Advanced – those who have shown for more than 5 years in the mini-show & does not sell more than $300 in plants a year. Open – those who sell more than $300 in plants a year. Also you must own the plant for at least

6 months before you can show the plant in the mini show.

Brian Poot, Mini show coordinator

MAINE GROWER FINDS SOULMATES IN SUCCULENTS: by Micky Bedell 08-15-16 Maine’s not the first place you’d expect to find plants usually found in dry, desert climates with a natural aversion to the wet and the cold. But over 90 varieties flourish in Etna under the loving, attentive hands of Hannah Todd, owner of Brickhouse Succulents. “I find office environments very difficult. I like to be outside,” Hannah says sheepishly, peering out at me from under her straw hat as the summer sun beats down on us at a worn picnic table outside her main greenhouse. “I just find the work very enjoyable, working in dirt. Which isn’t everyone’s cup of tea but is definitely mine.” “When I graduated I thought, what will I do? But then I got a job on a farm and that was it.” But it wasn’t until she started working for Bangor-based Everlasting Farm under its then owners Michael and Gail Zuck that Hannah was introduced to succulents. She immediately fell in love with the plants, joking that they were her “soulmates,” and the Zucks kept her duties primarily succulent-based. A few years later when the two decided to retire and close up, “the kindest people in the world” offered Hannah the entire succulent collection and a greenhouse for “very modest prices” because of how much she loved the plants. If it weren’t for Hannah, hundreds of succulents from 90 different species may have hit the compost pile. Now she “carries on the legacy” of two “phenomenal growers” and “wonderful people” — two people who mentored her through her first seasons on her own. They’d come to her greenhouse space in Etna and watch her work, telling her when she was over- or under-watering, or what types of succulent needed trimming in what season. Michael offered a plethora of valuable tips on how exactly to heat a greenhouse through Maine winters. That’s right. Hannah heats a greenhouse through Maine winters. Which is why, she suspects, succulent tending is so limited in the northeast. “No one I know is as crazy as me to heat a greenhouse through the winter,” she said, looking up at the blue sky and staring momentarily into the distance in thought. Then she laughed, smiled, and turned back to me. “I’m assuming that’s the drawback? They must not love them as much as me!” And while Hannah’s tweeked some of the Zuck’s processes for succulent care, mostly she runs her business exactly how they told her to. Well. Except for the “odder containers” first fell in love with Hannah’s favorite plants The Rock and Art Shop in downtown Bangor. Tiny little, negligence-friendly succulents of many shapes and colors overflowed from a collection of teacups and teapots at the front table, mixed among the other wares. I immediately snatched one up, exclaiming, “This is so cute! Where did this come from?” The quest to find out led me straight to her. It was actually time spent working at One Lupine in Bangor that initially started to turn Hannah’s mind from seeing her succulents through the lens biology and gardening to art. She would get comments all the time from artists coming in and out of the shop about what an interesting media it was to work in, with all the textures and the colors. “There are thousands [of different species.] They range from, you know, blues to reds to greens to yellows to oranges,” Hannah says, describing a painter’s palette of living things. “And their textures are bubbly or spiky or flat. They’re just, they’re amazing plants.” Hannah spends her mornings wandering her greenhouse, collecting small sections of the plants to poke into a variety of containers with a long knitting needle. When she first started she was very strict about how many varieties she’d allow herself per arrangement, but now she just lets herself “go crazy.” The succulents, she says, have taught her patience. Art. Joy. She’ll always be thankful to the Zucks for introducing her to the loves of her life.

DIGGING DEEP - A SHORT ROMP IN THE RUTH BANCROFT GARDENS: by Cynthia Brian 09-09-16 Since as long as I can remember I have always said that I wanted to live to be 108 years old. Why I chose that number I have no idea as I had never met anyone who lived to be 108...until this week when I met Ruth Bancroft, creator of the Ruth Bancroft Gardens in Walnut Creek. Ruth turned 108 years young on Sept. 2 and I was privileged enough to celebrate her birthday with bubbly and her favorite chocolate cake in her masterpiece dry gardens that she began planting in the 1970s.

Bancroft's gardening passion began as a child in Berkeley. When she moved through the tunnel to Walnut Creek she became a "collector." Her efforts, trials, tribulations and experiences along the way are chronicled in the new Timber Press book, "The Bold Dry Garden," penned by Johanna Silver, the garden editor of Sunset magazine, and photographed by Marion Brenner. With the entire West Coast on drought alert, the Ruth Bancroft Gardens are a model for low-water plant scaping. If you have ever been curious about succulents, cacti, yuccas, and other desert plants that will flourish in the East Bay, this beautiful book will become an essential reference guide.

Our local water company states that water use was 24 percent less in 2015 than it was in 2014, saving enough water to fill the Oakland Coliseum 71 times! As homeowners rip out lawns in favor of xeriscaping, we'll focus on the benefits of adding low maintenance, low water use plants and planting them NOW in your garden. Although I have a lifetime of gardening experience, I'm not sure that I will ever become an expert in any one area of horticulture, as gardens are living, breathing, evolving, growing entities that are constantly changing. What I adore about Bancroft's garden is this consistent evolution. Each time I visit, a new vista or display greets me, even from the same specimens as the first visit. The colors, textures and sizes are in perpetual motion, from California natives to the canopy of trees, the rosettes of terrestrial bromeliads to the swords of the yuccas. Here are a few of Bancroft's prized collection that you can grow in your garden for your benefit and that of your great-grandchildren's children.

Aeoniums: One of the most popular plants of all of the succulents, aeoniums have lovely fleshy rosettes that will reach towards the heavens, mound in purgatory or cascade towards hell. They prefer a bit of shade and are easy to cultivate and grow in the ground and in containers.

Yuccas: These sword-shaped plants are native to the Americas and the Caribbean and like hot, dry regions. In their natural habitat they are pollinated by the yucca moth. Although yuccas are grown mostly for ornamental use, many species use the seeds, flowers, stems and sometimes the roots for food and medicine.

Echeveria: Many of the most beautiful small succulents are echeveria, often confused with aeoniums because of their rosettes. Their leaf colors are brilliantly hued and they boast flowers in red, orange, white, yellow, purple, and pink. They grow well between rocks and are a terrific ground cover or garden filler. Most echeveria species hail from Mexico.

Sedums: A hardy perennial with thick, fleshy leaves and stems and clusters of pretty flowers, sedums are most popular for groundcovers, borders and rock gardens. They require minimal to no care at all, are easy to propagate from cuttings, and are drought resistant.

Aloe: The best-friend plant for anyone with a sunburn, cut or bite, aloe is known as nature's soothing succulent. Aloes relieve itching and irritation on the skin, and reduces redness and swelling by inhibiting the body's release of histamine. In a garden, aloes bloom in bright colors of red, orange and yellow with over 500 species ranging from tiny to tree height. These unfussy favorites are a "must have" in any garden or container.

Agave: With over 200 species native to the Americas, agaves are diverse in colors, shapes, sizes, and spines. Agaves are sculptural. They can be a focal point in a landscape or can mix well with other plantings. Before planting an agave, make sure to read the label to determine the final size of the plant. Some agaves have a full-grown diameter of 13 to 14 feet while others remain small and compact.

Barrel Cactus: Always armed with heavy spines and prominent ribs, barrel cacti are known as the "fierce or wild cactus." Flowers always grow at the top without spines. Native Americans boiled the flowers to eat like cabbage. The fruits are considered inedible. Barrel cacti add a fascinating form to any landscape when planted in circles or artistic ways.

Continued on next page.......

DIGGING DEEP - A SHORT ROMP IN THE RUTH BANCROFT GARDENS: Continued Prickly Pear Cactus: Optunias, commonly called prickly pear cactus, have yellow, red, purple or orange fruit that is delicious and sold in stores as tuna. The paddles are called Nopales and used in many ethnic recipes. The soluble fibers of both the fruit and the paddles are considered to stabilize blood sugar. These cacti make a great fence to keep out human and animal invaders as the spines are tiny and very sharp. My sister surrounded her property with optunias that bore enough fruit for a weekly farmer's market booth. Although I've concentrated on the desert plants, the Ruth Bancroft Garden reveals a softer side with riffs of bulbs, wildflowers, grasses and California natives. A visit to the Ruth Bancroft Garden is a must-do for anyone interested in learning more about dry and drought tolerant gardening. We are fortunate to have one of the nation's most renowned public gardens literally in our backyard with a collection of rare specimens available for sale that will enhance your landscape while saving precious water. Visit www.RuthBancroftGarden.org for more information. Embrace your sense of curiosity. Employ a few of Ruth Bancroft's dry gardening specimens. Gardens are a legacy to our future and the time to plant is today. In 108

years, who will be enjoying your garden? Happy Gardening and Happy Growing!

NEW MEMBERS & MEMBER INFO. CHANGES:

Renee Calhoun Alex Schmidt Mary Bertken

1801 Applegate Drive 207 Acacia Avenue New E-mail: Modesto, CA 95350 Manteca, CA 95366 mombquilt3@gmail.com

(209) 418-4408 (209) 481-9167

renee.m.calhoun@gmail.com alexeschmidt@comcast.net

TRAVEL: On a recent trip Ernesto Sandoval went to Torrey Pines State Park which

is one of the few instances of Agave shawii in California, so if you would like

to see this agave in habitat go check it out.

ITEMS NEEDED: If anyone has a HDMI cable that is about 10'-0" long the club needs one for the laptop so we can hook up to the rooms projector. Also if anyone knows of a website that has a patch for the older versions of Office. That

way we can open the newer version of Office extension files on our club laptop.

AUGUST MEETING 2016 - PHOTO'S BY BRIAN POOT