This Month's Program

“The Cacti of Arizona”“The Cacti of Arizona”Peter Breslin

June 11th

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m Monthly MeetingTuesday, June 11th

at 7:00 PM@ St. Paul's

Church2216 17th St.

The Cactus PatchOpuntia basilaris var. treleasei

Meet theMeet theSpeaker!Speaker!Dinner atSizzler

5:00 PM900 Real Road900 Real Road

THE NEWSLETTER OF THE BAKERSFIELD CACTUS & SUCCULENT SOCIETY

Volume 22 June 2019 Number 06

The Cactus PatchVolume 22 Number 06

June 2019The Cactus Patch is the official publication of the Bakersfield

Cactus & Succulent Society of Bakersfield, California

Membership in the Bakersfield Cactus & Succulent Society costs$20 per year for an individual and $25 a year for a family.

Visit Us On the Web!www.BakersfieldCactus.org

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“The Cacti of Arizona”“The Cacti of Arizona”Peter Breslin

Peter Breslin has been involved in thecactus and succulent hobby since he was10 years old and his grandmother boughthim a grafted Parodia at a garden center.Something about the fuzzy spines andweird green flowers caught his attentionand he has been fascinated ever since.During many years as an avid grower andamateur botanist, Breslin had a 26 yearcareer as a high school English andmathematics teacher. In 2014, he decidedto begin graduate studies at Arizona State University toward a PhD in Environmental Life Sciences. His areas of research include plant population biology, conservation biology, species distribution and biogeography and the emerging field of landscape genetics. His dissertation research, supported in part by generous grants from the Cactus and Succulent Society of America, has been focused on the islandendemic cacti of the Pacific islands of Baja California.

For this talk, Breslin will present a tour of Arizona, with a focus on the rare, endangered and difficult to find cacti of the region. Arizona is home to the iconic saguaro and organ pipe, of course, but in this talk, Breslin highlights the tiny, well hidden, unusual, often small cacti found in the state, such as Pediocactus peeblesianus subsp. fickeiseniorum, Mammillaria viridiflora and Escobaria robbinsorum. The presentation features dozens of photographs and is packed with information on the unusual cacti and succulents of Arizona and their habitats.

Breslin was one of the authors of a Field Guide to the Cacti and Succulents of Arizona, published by the Tucson Cactus and Succulent Society, now in its second printing.

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June 11June 11thth Meeting Meeting

CONTACT INFORMATIONVice-President: Jill Brennan jbrennan@bak.rr.comMembership: Maynard Moe lmmoe44@gmail.comNewsletter: Polly Hargreaves pollypearl@hotmail.comWebsite: Stephen Cooley thecactuspatch@bak.rr.com

May 14th, 2019Potluck/picnic at

The Succulent Garden at Cal StateThe Succulent Garden at Cal State

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The Succulent Garden at Cal State.

ToothpickCactus

Stetsonia coryne

Stetsonia is a tall, branching tree-cactus from the plains and hillsof Argentina and Bolivia. It is a summer grower that grows very slowly up to 30 feet high with many thick branches. The spines are straight and very long – it is easy to see why it is called toothpick cactus. It has a white flower that

opens at night and stays open the next day. I have never seen ours in bloom but I have seen buds.

Stetsonia is supposed to be somewhat cold tender, withstanding only light frosts. Ours has seen no damage with temperatures down into the mid 20'sF. Ithas been in the garden forover a decade and is justnow reaching over threefeet high. This year I didnotice a branch formingnear the base. Just a fewmore decades to go and itmay start looking like atree.

Stephen Cooley

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Aloe dichotoma with Neon Darter dragonfly

Opuntia ramosissima

Plant of the MonthEcheveria

shaviana

We come next to chapter8 in Dortort which covers theEcheverias, yet another genuswithin the Crassulaceae. Hedivides up the genus whichcontains about 150 species intoseveral groups; rapidly offsettingones, colorful medium-sized,slow clumping or solitary, thick-leafed, South and CentralAmerican, hairy-leafed, largerEcheverias, epiphytic and finallyhybrids. There are so many interesting ones I think we may linger in the genus for a bit.

I chose Echeveria shaviana as plant of the month for its beauty. It is a member of the colorful medium-sized Echeveria group. I know that many succulent collectors like the colorful species so this would probably be a popular choice.

Echeveria shaviana is native to north eastern Mexico where it grows on rocky slopes in pine-oak woodland. Most Echeverias are not true desert plants and as such prefer filtered bright light, water in the summer growing season, good drainage and reduced water during the winter dormant period. One must be careful to not over-water as they are susceptible to root rot.

The rosette itself averages about 5 in. (13 cm.) in diameter. Leaves are thin, succulent and ruffled at the edges. In strong light they develop a waxy bloom blue-white in color. Leaves often havea pinkish edge. On the whole the leaves may appear to glow.

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Flowers are pink with yellow interiors. They form on stalkswhich emerge below the growing tip of the rosette. Flower stalks average about 12 in. (30 cm.) long with flowers all on one side of the stalk. Flowering is during the summer growing season.

They can be propagated by stem and leaf cuttings. They make good members of a group planting of other succulents that have the same requirements or as rock garden interest points. Theytake to pot culture easily and could be grown indoors on a window sill although in Bakersfield they would prefer to be outside in summer and inside in winter I’m sure.

Jack G. Reynolds

Visit Us On the Web!www.BakersfieldCactus.org

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/BakersfieldCactushttps://www.facebook.com/BakersfieldCactus

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May Showers!A Letter From Bruce

April showersBring May flowers?

Will climate change mean new rhymes? This is the wettest May I can remember in Bakersfield. The weeds are flourishing! But the plants I want are also thriving. My cluster of Manfreda maculata has put up two flower stalks. This is the first time I have seen a Manfreda in bloom. The yellowish flowers have long filaments with brown anthers. Quite striking. I don’t think they should be lumped in with Tuberose as some authorities feel.

A very exciting book arrived in the mail. It is Life in Three Worlds: Reminiscences by Sumitra Talukdar with David Ambrose. Sumitra was my colleague at the National University of Lesotho. She taught plant physiology. Her three worlds are: India where shewas born and raised, Britain where she was educated and Southern Africa where she taught, married David Ambrose and raised her son Jonty. She and David are retired and now living across the border in South Africa. Polly gets one mention in the book (as driver on a trip to Namibia) and I get three and a picture for my botanic work. The book is packed with information and it will take me a lifetime to read. But I look forward to the challenge.

On 15th April we were atSparks to visit the grandkids. Onthe 17th we visited the Sierra ZooSafari, Nevada’s biggest zoo. Itwas disappointingly small, but itwas fun feeding the deer.

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On the 18th we celebrated mybirthday with a dinner at the ZagolEthiopean Restaurant. On Saturday wehad a BBQ and egg hunt with otherfamilies from the apartment complex. We ended with a pineapple piñata. Next day we drove out to a horseysuburb and had another egg hunt- thistime with giant plastic eggs. We endedwith a white rabbit piñata. On the 22nd

we returned to Bakersfield.27 April was a busy day. We

began with the Garden Fest at BC. Theweather was good and it was crowded. We could have used more plants for our booth.

From the fest we went tothe Humanities Building where a plaque was dedicated to “Doc Boyd”. He was head of Historyfor many years. My parents and he went to UC Berkeley. His daughter Barbara was in myclass at BHS. He wrote a number of local histories.

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E Clampus Vitus, Peter Le Beck Chapter

Family of William Harland Boyd

That evening Johntook us to the BakersfieldSpeedway. I had seen thedemolition derby at Famosoyears ago, but this was afirst for me. I wasimpressed by the strangecars that are specially madefor racing. I was alsosurprised by the small onesfor small people. One racerwas five!

On the 2nd of May we heard Robert Scott at Fresno with a talk on Aloes. He had good pictures and titles, but there were just too many. (And he didn’t show half of them.) One thing I did learnwas that Swaziland has a new name. It is now eSwatini- which means Land of the Swazi! Why it didn’t change at independence like Bechuanaland and Basutoland I don’t know. We stayed over and Polly went to a baby shower for her niece Maggie on Saturday.

On the 12th we went to Anne’s for a Mothers’ Day dinner and on the 14th we were at the potluck at the CSUB garden. The space is getting full. We obviously need to expand, but where to?

Bruce Hargreaves[Bruce's opinions are his own and are not necessarily that of the

BCSS]

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June 11th BCSS Meeting"The Cacti of Arizona"

Peter Breslin

June 29th and 30th CSSA Show & Sale

Huntington Gardens, San Marino

July 9th BCSS MeetingErnesto Sandoval

July 17-20CSSA ConventionSan Luis Obispo CA

August 13th BCSS MeetingDinner out: Where would you like to go?

Visit Us On the Web!www.BakersfieldCactus.org

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/BakersfieldCactushttps://www.facebook.com/BakersfieldCactus

~11~Garden Fest @ B. C.