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, April 25th, 2019

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

APRIL 2019

2019 BOARD:

President: Greg Severi (209) 612-8289 gregseveri@gmail.com

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

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

Secretary: Angela Severi (209) 612-8289 gregseveri@gmail.com

Board Members: Lesley Slayter, Bill Poot & Dawn Dalyce

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:

April 10th - Board Meeting at the Poot’s 7:00 p.m. 25th - General Meeting 7:00pm: Program from the CSSA Convention in

2017 Adenium by Mark Dimmitt

May 8th - Board Meeting at the Poot’s 7:00 p.m. 23rd - General Meeting 7:00pm: Potluck & Auction at the Poot’s

OTHER UPCOMING EVENTS: (not club related)

San Jose Cactus & Succulent Society Show & Sale: April 27-28 at Peterson Middle School in Sunyvale 1380 Rosalia Ave. Sat. 9am - 5pm & Sun. 10am – 4pm

Sacramento Cactus & Succulent Society Show & Sale: May 4-5 at Sheppard Garden & Arts Center in McKinley Park. Sat. 9am - 5pm & Sun. 9am – 4pm

SUNSHINE REPORT:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to: Lisa Larson, Harry Gong, Angela Severi & Mike Bradshaw.

THIS MONTHS PROGRAM: Adenium - Development of a New Ornamental Plant by Mark Dimmitt

The April program will be a program that was given at the 2017 CSSA Convention by Mark Dimmitt entitled Adenium –

Development of a New Ornamental Plant.

Mark A. Dimmitt has a Ph.D. in biology (herpetology) from the University of California at Riverside after earning an M.S. from UCLA and a B.S. from Pomona College. He worked at the Arizona- Sonora Desert Museum from 1979 to 2011, first as Curator of Botany, and eventually as Director of Natural History (field ecologist). His areas of research included botany and vertebrate biology, and he is the author of more than 50 scientific and popular publications about ecology and horticulture. He is a Fellow of the Cactus and Succulent Society of America. His major publication is the plant and ecology chapters of A Natural History of the Sonoran Desert (2000), and is the senior editor of the revised edition (2015). Mark’s other and ongoing career is as a plant breeder. He spent a couple of decades hybridizing Trichocereus (=Echinopsis, cacti), then Tillandsia (bromeliads); he has introduced about 50 cultivars. Since the late 1970s his main focus has been on hybridizing the genus Adenium; ‘Crimson Star’, ‘Evelyn Marie’, and ‘Bouquet’ are among his creations. He is coauthor of the book Adenium: Sculptural Elegance, Floral Extravagance (2008). Mark also collects and grows a number of other weird plants, mostly succulents and epiphytes. * The Poot’s will provide the raffle table this month.

*Reminder to Kathy Zumbrunn (snacks) & Carol Jo Hargreaves (drinks), this is your month to bring

refreshments.

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

NEW & RETURNING MEMBERS:

Linda Ewart Jeanie Serpa Sabra Duran

1210 Ponce de Leon Avenue 1244 West Flora Street 273 West Nine Street Stockton, CA 95209 Stockton, CA 95203 Stockton, CA 95206 (209) 670-5984

lasewart@yahoo.com Dawn Dalyce & Ron Posey

408 Camellia Way Modesto, CA 95354 (209) 596-3330 dawndalyce@yahoo.com

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

MARCH 2019 MINI SHOW RESULTS: All results were misplaced, if you know how your plant finished let Brian Poot know.

Novice Division, Cacti: 1st - ? w/

2nd - ? w/

3rd - ? w/

Novice Division, Succulent: 1st - ? w/

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3rd - ? w/

Novice Division, Blooming: 1st - ? w/

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3rd - ? w/

Advanced Division, Cacti: 1st - ? w/

2nd - ? w/

3rd - ? w/

Advanced Division, Succulent: 1st - ? w/

2nd - ? w/

3rd - ? w/

Advanced Division, Blooming: 1st - ? w/

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3rd - ? w/

Open Division, Cacti: 1st - ? w/

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Open Division, Succulent: 1st - ? w/

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Open Division, Blooming: 1st - ? w/

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Allied Interest: 1st - ? w/

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MARCH MEETING 2019 - PHOTO'S BY BRIAN POOT

PLANT STUDY: by Elton Roberts Peniocereus greggii You may walk the desert for years without seeing Peniocereus greggii. It grows in the states of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. I have known of people that live in the area where the plant grows and had never seen it even though it was on their property till one evening, they take a walk and see the flowers open. Others have taken an early morning walk and discovered the plant close to where they walk all the time. They did not see it till early one morning while the flowers were still open. The flowers open as darkness is settling over the desert and close as the sun is coming up. It is reported that all the plants bloom the same night. I do not believe that happens. I have been flowering my plants for years and there are, just like on other plants, different sizes of buds that open on different nights. I am sure that quite a few open on this night and others will open a few nights later. I have maybe 7 or 8 of the plants and have always had flowers open on different nights. Quite a few times I have missed the first nights blooming but see that there are more buds that will open that night and some that will not open for several more nights. The plants grow from a root that can be turnip shaped or it can be several roots growing form the same stem. Some roots have been found to be 60 cm in diameter. The stem forms a short trunk from which other branches grow. The trunk stems can be to 2.5 cm in diameter while the wandering stems are to 1.5 to 2 cm in diameter. Most plants start life under a nurse plant. If the nurse plant is a desert tree that grows to fifteen or so feet tall the stems of the Peniocereus greggii can grow to several meters long. The stems use the branches of the tree for support and shade. I have had people tell me that plants on their property that lost the nurse plant did not live more than a year or two at the most. I have my plants under 40% shade and they are doing fine. When I moved one out to where it got a lot less shade it burned the plants so bad that it took several years to recover. I moved it out in the early spring. Since then I keep the plants in the deeper shade. In the photo of the side view of the flower that patterning in the background is the shade cloth. The stems have 5 to 7 ribs with 6 being the average. The ribs are acute or razor backed, it is hard to tell where one areole ends and the next starts. On older stems the areole where the spines grow is like the top of a ripple on a quiet pond. The spines are so dark as to look black; there are 6 to 9 radial spines and 1 or 2 centrals. The centrals usually drop off and so do not show up in the photos. If you look at the tip of the growing stem you can see the spines standing out from the areole. As the stem grows the areole becomes longer and the spines lay or hug the stem more and more till soon all you see is the dark of the spines laying against the stem. By the time you get about 3 inches down the stem most if not all the central spines have dropped off. When the plant produces the flowers, they grow just up-stem from the spine cluster. By the time the flower opens it can be as long as 21 cm. I have seen that if only one flower is produced it can be that long if there are multiple flowers then they can be to only 15 cm long. The flowers are to 7.5 cm in diameter. According to Benson and some other authors all the plants in Arizona are P. greggii ssp. transmontanus and all the plants in New Mexico and Texas are P. greggii ssp. greggii. The differences in the two plants is the areole shape and the flower size. Supposedly the flowers of greggii are smaller than those of transmontanus with greggii being to 5 cm in diameter and transmontanus being 7.5 cm in diameter.

As the plants have large roots be sure to provide a pot large enough to accommodate the root. Give fast draining soil, as the root will rot if it stays damp too long. I have seen plants with roots so large that they had to be in a half barrel. My old orginal plant did suffer damage in the big freeze when the temperature dropped to 9F, the plants I have now showed no damage when the temperature fell to 18 last winter. I would suggest keeping the plants above 25 F. I keep them dry over the winter.