NEWS OF THE CHINLE CACTUS & SUCCULENT SOCIETY JULY 2017 VOL. 9 NO. 7A

To promote knowledge, enjoyment, cultivation, and conservation of cacti and other succulent plants among its members, other individuals and organizations throughout West-Central Colorado

JULY PROGRAM

“HOW TO” MAKE HYPERTUFA POTS The Regular Meeting of the Chinle C&S will be on July 8th at the CSU Extension Garden. Susan Honea, CSU Coordinator for Horticulture and the Master Gardener Program, will be leading the hands-on activity starting at 6:30 pm. Hypertufa mimics a type of rock, and is composed of just three accessible inexpensive materials: perlite, Portland cement, and peat moss. It has been said that an impressive pot can be made using basic molds. You may discover that a process as rudimentary as making mud pies can yield such an attractive result.

Hypertufa was developed in the 1930s to replicate the stone troughs that were popular among English gardeners in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The lightweight stand-ins were not only easier to come by, but also easier to transport. Thanks to their porous nature, the pots were ideal for plants needing good drainage. Hypertufa containers are still practical in the garden and simple to create. The process is not an exact science, which is part of the fun. Every pot is unique and has the potential to surprise you with the results!

If you plan to make a pot, you will need to prepare for this activity by obtaining the following items: 1.Sturdy, rubber gloves (like Rubbermaid) to protect your hands from the caustic materials in the cement. 2.Some kind of mold within which to form your pot. Suggested molds can be cheap, Dollar Store plastic bowls, an old basket (that you will discard after making your pot), small cardboard boxes, plastic ice cream buckets, etc. A good mold is one that you can get the pot out of fairly easily and also that you can put a drainage hole in the bottom of the pot. Spraying Pam inside the mold can help get the pot out more easily. 3.You can bring decorative items to place on the instead of your mold such as large leaves, broken colored glass, burlap, etc., that will give texture to the outside of the pot. 4.Bring a sturdy board (plywood works well) on which to put your mold and pot to cure, and transfer it to your car. Hypertufa pots are lighter than solid concrete, but are not considered lightweight.

Susan suggests that you wear old clothes as the process can be messy. She will have dust masks and safety glasses to use while mixing up the ingredients. The Society and CSU will be providing the perlite, cement and peat moss for the project, so let Shari Skeie (1-612-963-72266, shariskeie@yahoo.com) know if if you want to make one so we will have enough supplies

Succulent Morsels

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FASCINATING SITES & SIGHTS! - PART 2 Here is the second part of our report on our field trip to Vernal and surrounding areas. Our Saturday began with a rendezvous at the South Orientation Recreation Site on CO 139 to view the multiple rock art sites and cacti discovered all along the 8-1/2 mile stretch in Canyon Pintado.

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Ken Weissenburger (center) provides introductory comments for the Canyon Pintado tour.

Above, Kathy McCoy, Rita Auer & Mike Crump check out the “Waving Hands” pictograph.Detail below.

Above, detail of “Kokopelli Site”, where the 1776 Escalante expedition named Canyon Pintado, i.e., the Painted Canyon..Below, “White Birds”, an example of Barrier Canyon style of Fremont rock art.

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The Cow Canyon Site features rock art, including this Ute image of a pistol

Left, members walked the 1.3 mile loop at the East Four-mile Site, the last site in Pintado Canyon, and the largest of the rock art sites in the Canyon Pintado National Historic District, featuring Ute and Fremont panels.

According to the interpretive sign at the Sun Dagger site,shown below, “Sun Dagger sites use the light and shadow with either natural features or man made ones—circles, spirals or even similar shapes—to delineate celestial events such as summer and winter solstices and the spring and fall equinoxes. Many sites are designed so that the early morning sunrise is the marker. At this site the critical time is about 10 am Mountain Daylight Time, when the overhanging ledge casts a shadow that exactly bisects all three circles at the same time.

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During our stop at the Rangely Museum, Ken introduced us to some of Rangely’s long history with the oil industry. Behind Ken is a replica pump jack which originally was kept at the site of the original deep discovery well in the Rangely oil field. It was moved to the Museum in 2015.

Our next destination was the site of a Giant Yellow Pedio Colony, which many of us have seen blooming in years past. This year, alas, we were too late for blooms, but the area was filled with beautiful specimens, seen below. .

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Above (L), Hanging Hearth site of an archeological dig. On the (R), a petrified log emerges from the rock face near by.

Ken provides an historic perspective to the Rangley areas’ connection to the oil and gas industry.

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After a great day of sights & sites, we all met at the Quarry Restaurant in Vernal for a group dinner.

On the final day of our tour, we looked forward to visiting Fantasy Canyon. Referencing Ken’s excellent tour notes, Fantasy Canyon “is a compact canyon land filled with fantastical and fragile rock sculptures….formed during the original deposition of river and lake sands and muds and further evolved by chemical processes….Uplift and erosion revealed and modified these intricate landforms.”

Ken also provided us with a primer on the Uinta Basin and the fossil fuel deposits there explaining that the Uinta Basin is a geologic home to coal, bituminous sandstone, oil, oil shale, natural gas, and a little known (for most of us) fossil-fuel, gilsonite. Below, the black material gives evidence to a gilsonite vein running through Fantasy Canyon, which like the rock forms, are part of the Uinta Formation, going back to the Age of Mammals (Eocene).

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Ellie (L) and Rachel (R) discuss their cacti findings. Ellie shows us her newest friend, a desert horned toad.

Gilsonite

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Above, members explore the strange and “other worldly” formations in fantasy canyon. Above right, Ken showed us magnetic micro-fibers (magnetite) in the canyon, which were attracted to the steel blade of his knife.

Although there are pygmy rattlers in this area, the “critter” we saw is most likely a common bull snake, non-poisonous but nonetheless, impressive!

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The “Rock Pile!!”

The group’s fascination with rocks was further piqued by this huge pile of rocks!

Ken points out specifics on a rock for the group and Kate is pleased to have found a special garden rock.

Maryann hangs on to her rock treasures

After getting our “rock fix”, we proceeded to the area where the American Gilsonite plant is located. It produced gasoline, fuel oils, and coke.

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A bit of a hike from the AGC plant, a large gilsonite vein has been exposed. The vein is 2-5 feet wide and can be as much as 1000 feet deep. On the left Ken is using his pick to dislodge chucks of the ore for members to take as “souvenirs”.

Ken has shared the following history about gilsonite and its various uses over time: “In the late 1800s, when gilsonite mining first began, ‘Gilsonite was used in varnishes and paints for horse-drawn carriages, and then in other kinds of paints. It was mixed half-and-half with liquid asphalt for road-building materials and also mixed with rubber compounds to make buggy and coach tires…’ (ref: The Story of Gilsonite, 1957, American Gilsonite Company). Anheuser-Busch used Gilsonite as a safe and effective lining for the inside of its beer barrels. (History of American Gilsonite Company, http://www.americangilsonite.com/index.php?id=5). In the 1920s gilsonite was the only additive that could survive the heat necessary to paint Ford car parts shiny black with baked enamel paint (ref: How Cars Got Their Colors, Invention and Technology Magazine, Spring 1997).

“During the 1957-1973 years of Chevron ownership, a slurry pipeline delivered gilsonite from Bonanza, Utah, to Gilsonite (Loma), Colorado where it was refined into gasoline and petroleum coke. Coke, in turn, is used as a fuel and as an additive in carbon-consuming industries such as steel making and aluminum refining.

“Better raw materials than gilsonite are available for refining into gasoline, so current uses of gilsonite are as additives. “The strength, flexibility, extreme light weight and environmental safety of Gilsonite make it a superior additive for cementing and drilling fluids in the oilfield, as well as improving performance and quality in asphalt, inks, paints, stains, construction materials and foundry castings.” (American Gilsonite Company, http://www.americangilsonite.com/index.php?id=1).”

This was the last official stop on the tour, but many of us visited some other interesting sites in the area before returning home. Again, our appreciation is extended to Don Campbell and Ken Weissenburger for working out this multi-themed agenda of cacti, rock art, and geology. It was also nice to have some younger cactophiles join us to help reduce the average age of the group and piggy-back on their enthusiasm!! Thanks to all for a great trip!

MEMBERS HELP WITH CSU EXTENSION OPEN HOUSE Saturday, June 3rd, Chinle C&SS members acted as tour guides during the Colorado State University Extension’s 20th Anniversary. Those participating (& wearing their CC&SS aprons were Don Campbell, Lois Davidson, Lynn Dunham, and Kate Weissenburger Thanks to these individuals for representing the Chinle C&SS!

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JUNE GARDEN PARTIES Here’s the line-up of participants in the June 7th Garden Party at the WCBG (L to R): Bill Hassell, Don Campbell, Walt Scheer, Marj McKenna, Kate Weissenburger, Maryann & Loren Benoit and Lois Davidson. Not shown, Janet Hassell, photographer.

Don demonstrated at the June 7th garden party a different use for the traditional bulb planter to unearth tap-rooted plants with minimum root damage, shown here:

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Participants in the June 17th garden party at the CSU spent a lot of time and energy removing plants that have, in some cases, taken over large areas of the garden since its inception 17 years ago. Once the overgrowth is removed, we can further evaluate the condition of the “exposed” plants and determine what the renovation of the garden needs. Lois Davidson will take this information to write a grant proposal to the Colorado Garden Association in an effort to obtain some funding to accomplish the renovation.

Participants included Eric Baltes, Don Campbell, Lois Davidson, Lisa Hamilton, Leslie Joanis, Kim Krueger, Deb Mallory, Walt Scheer, and Doris Schlichter. A special thanks to Lisa Hamilton who took photos of the Garden Party activities.

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Leslie thins the gazeniasA successful Mormon Tea Hunt…or Where’s Waldo?

Enjoying the 9 am break!Photo on left, from (L) to (R): Lois Davidson, Eric Baltes, Deb Mallory, Leslie Joanis, Doris Schlichter, Kim Krueger, Walt Scheer and Don Campbell (photo by Lisa Hamilton).

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JUNE REGULAR MEETING FOCUSED ON INDOOR CACTI & SUCCULENT CULTIVATION

Don Campbell presented video presentations on the care and cultivation of indoor cacti and succulents, with a question and answer session that followed. While the videos covered topics of watering, propagation, fertilization and other aspects of C&S gardening, Don answered many specific concerns about members’ plants.

We were pleased to have two new members join the Society at the meeting—Eric and Kim Krueger. As always, we enjoyed Tom Burrow’s incredible Kailua Cake during break.

Minutes of this meeting are included on pages 15 & 16 of this newsletter.

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Lynn Dunham (R) discusses properties of the Sea Onion.(L to R) Kate Weissenburger, Maryann Benoit, Shari Skeie & Kathy Murdock sign in to the meeting and purchase drawing tickets.

Mike Edgar (L) and Walt Scheer (R) chat!

Eric and Lois talkOur self-appointed supervisor!

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WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU THORNS, FIND SOLACE IN YOUR DESERT GARDEN

Reprinted from with permission from the author, David Fitzsimmons, Editorial Cartoonist/Columnist as it appeared April 15, 2017, in “The Arizona Daily Star” “I love my desert garden because I need escape, exercise, and the spiritual reset I get from the experience of jabbing my thumb into a cholla needle, cursing, tripping over my rake, falling onto a thousand prickly pear spines, boomeranging back up to hit my head on a glass hummingbird feeder, spilling the red nectar and shaking loose thousands of yellow palo verde petals, creating a small blizzard of blossoms that coat my sugar water soaked self. Wounded, tarred and feathered. “We all need moments like that!

“It’s Spring. There’s riot of color in my desert garden that is so out of control the state police had to tear gas my Penstemons. You cannot work in a xeriscape without paying the price of admission. And that price is steep.

Gardener: “I’d like to work in my garden today.” Desert: “That will cost you one thorn in your thumb.”

Gardener: “Anything else?” Desert: “A splinter from the shovel handle between your thumb and forefinger.”

Gardener: “Is that it?” Desert: “That’s it, Mr. Green Jeans. “ Gardener: “The scorpion in my glove?”

Desert: “That’s a bonus. Stop whining, pincushion. Get out there and weed.” Gardener: “They’re not ‘weeds’. They’re “wildflowers”.

“Summer will blowtorch them off the planet soon enough. I prefer the manly activity known as “clearing brush”. Real desert gardeners always look like they just tangled with an angry bobcat off his meds.

Wife: “Been working in the garden?” Me:”Naw. Just tripped over my hoe, fell onto a rattler, jumped back ten feet into a giant web of black widows

and fought my way out with only a hand rake, only to jam my toe into a hooked barrel cactus spine.” Wife: “Thank goodness. I thought someone had crossed an idiot with a Porcupine. I’ll get the tweezers.”

Me: “I’ll need pliers, 300 band-aids and something for my spring fever.” Wife: “A Margarita?”

“I love my wife.”

“I was thrilled when our Palo Verdes burst into billions of yellow blossoms a few days back and the hedgehogs answered with magenta and vermillion flowers. The Cholla buds are just now starting to blossom. Soon the prickly pears will produce translucent canary yellow flowers and, in time, the saguaros will herald the arrival of summer with donut-sized creamy white blossoms. When the scarlet fruit ripens, the monsoons will come.… The pincushions will celebrate the gift of August rains with crowns of tiny pink flowers, tarantulas will amble across our wet porch and the creosote leaves will internalize the smell of rain. Late October will bring the chill and the King snake who will emerge to discourage the packrats. Red cardinals from the north will appear, too. A second dose of rains in

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December will bring color to my garden in the spring and our Mesquite tree’s lacy leaves will return from winter’s frost to embrace the oven of summer.

“My drought resistant plants feed my thirst for bizarre beauty. I marvel at my octopus agaves’ pale green space-alien elegance, my moroccan euphorbia for their brutish charm and my African Adeniums, for their freak show trunks and astonishing flowers. I grow every kind of cacti and succulent. And, according to my kids, I grow tiresome. Rolling their eyes, my children refer to me as “Mister Rocks’n’Flowers”. The jackrabbits, quail and morning doves that I annoy with my constant pruning, digging, cultivating, potting and planting agree….

“….The thorns and flowers of my desert garden are my teachers and my joy. I sit and watch as dusk darkens my Gethsemane, and my Eden. A hawk devours a quail chick atop a distant telephone pole. Bats swoop and circle. A spider patiently weaves her web. In her nest, in the rafters of my porch, a Mourning Dove coos at her hatchlings. Life and death churns. Out in the desert beyond my crackling pit fire a coyote yip, yip, yips at the rising moon. I ease off my tattered garden gloves and drop them down on the desert floor, on the soil that brings forth life as surely as it claims us all as mulch. And at such times, in my garden, I know, as surely as summer will come, with, or, without me, I am blessed to be in this world.”

(THANKS, DAVID. AT LAST, SOMEONE UNDERSTANDS!”

ON THE LIGHTER SIDE Julie Bursi shares this “surprise” birthday celebration of Walt Scheer’s natal day while Don offers him a toast!

FAREWELL FOR NOW! “Just a parting word or two from your current editor. This is my final issue as editor of “Succulent Morsels”, your Chinle C&S newsletter. I am handing over the reins to a most capable new editor, Kate Weissenburger. Kate has great plans to continue reporting on news of the Society, and expanding the use of the web site to offer even more educational offerings and enhanced photo galleries. Thanks to all the members who have contributed news stories, photographs and proofreading, and thanks for you the readers for overlooking typos, misspelled names, and an occasional incorrect date or two. It has been a rewarding nine years to be your editor, but it is time to say goodby!”

Janet Hassell June 2017 Vol 9 No 6

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CALENDAR OF EVENTS: July 2017 to Dec 2017

July 8 Garden Party Wednesday, 8 am, at the CSU Extension Garden

July 10 Chinle Board Meeting - 6:30 pm at the Hassell’s Home

July 13 Regular Meeting of the Chinle Cactus & Succulent Society 6:30 pm CSU Extension Garden - NOTE CHANGE OF VENUE Program: Making Hypertufa Pots - Susan Honea, instructor July 19 Garden Party Wednesday, 8 am, at the CSU Extension Garden

August 5 Garden Party Saturday, WCBG, 8 am

August 7 Chinle Board Meeting - 6:30 pm Dinner, location TBA

August 19 Garden Party Saturday, CSU Extension Gardens, 8 am

August 26 Field Trip to Crumps Greenhouse, Buena Vista (Replaces regular August meeting of the Chinle C&SS)

September 5 Chinle Board Meeting - 6:30 pm at the Hassell’s Home

September 9 Garden Party Saturday, WCBG, 9 am - NOTE CHANGE OF START TIME

September 14 Regular Meeting of the Chinle Cactus & Succulent Society 6:30 pm 536 Ouray Ave., Grand Junction, CO Program: Grafting techniques

September 20 Garden Party Saturday, CSU Extension Gardens, 9 am

October 2 Chinle Board Meeting - 6:30 pm at the Hassell’s Home

October 7 Garden Party Saturday, WCBG, 9 am - ‘LAST OF THE SEASON AT WCBG

October 12 Regular Meeting of the Chinle Cactus & Succulent Society 6:30 pm - Program: TBA

October 21 Garden Party Saturday, CSU, 9 am - LAST OF THE SEASON AT CSU

November 6 Chinle Board Meeting - 6:30 pm at the Hassell’s Home

November 9 Regular Meeting of the Chinle Cactus & Succulent Society 6:30 pm 536 Ouray Ave., Grand Junction, CO

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Be sure to sign up for the Crump’s Field Trip to Buena Vista set for August 26th. Shari Skeie is the coordinator. Info re accommodations will be on the website.

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Program: PHOTO CONTEST PROGRAM

December 4 Chinle Board Meeting - 6:30 pm at the Hassell’s Home

DECEMBER 14 ANNUAL DINNER MEETIN

Chinle Cactus & Succulent Society Minutes of the Regular Meeting – June 8, 2017

The meeting was called to order by President Janet Hassell at 6:30PM. We had several new members and guests, who introduced themselves and indicated that they had found us via either the New Dimensions class or the Mr. Cactus hike at the Colorado National Monument.

Lisa Hamilton gave the financial report. There was little activity in May, mostly because we had no regular meeting (the meeting was replaced by the out-of-town field trip to Vernal, UT). Total for all accounts together was $7722.92 at the end of May. Lisa did report that the Club made some money from donations for the Vernal field trip. This deposit will show in the June financial report.

Lisa and Janet described the project involving the change in tax status from a 501(c)5 organization to a 501(c)3 organization, for the Club. The change would allow any donor to the Club to claim a tax deduction for the donation. This might encourage larger donations from either individuals or corporations. Applying for this change would be a long and laborious process, but we are looking into creating a separate foundation which could apply as a 501(c)3 organization from the start. This foundation could then accept donations that would qualify for the tax exemption, and the process would require much less documentation. Janet asked that if any Club member knows of a tax attorney/tax advisor who might be willing to do some pro bono work for the Club, to let her know, as we would like some professional advice on how best to approach the desired change.

Shari Skeie went over the program schedule for the rest of the year. The schedule is as follows: July: hands-on activity making hypertufa pots. Presented by Susan Honea August: no regular meeting. Field trip to Crump’s Greenhouse in Buena Vista, August 26 September: program TBD, possibly a talk from a native plant expert October: program on grafting cacti, presented by Don Campbell November: Photo contest December: Annual Dinner Meeting Janet presented some information on the ADM, to give members an idea of the cost increases that we are facing if we hold the dinner again at Bookcliff Country Club. The cost per person, including incidentals such tax, gratuity, and gift plants normally provided by the Club is approaching $50 per person this year. There have been several suggestions on how to reduce this, including offering only one entrée, not having the gift plants this year, and moving the dinner to an entirely different venue. There was some discussion about not having a formal sit-down dinner and making the evening more of an hors d’oeuvres/cash bar kind of get-together. A suggestion was made that we could also have a pot-luck. We have already paid our $250 deposit to the Country Club and will need to inquire as to whether we can get that back, if we cancel out soon. No decision was made, and Janet simply asked everyone to be thinking about what they would like.

Lois Davidson reported on the Garden Party schedule. The next work party will be June 17 at the CSU garden. She advised everyone to bring shovels and spading forks, as we will be removing a

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lot of plant material in preparation for renovating this garden, as well as the WCBG garden. There will likely be plants available to take home, should anyone want some. In July the parties are July 8 at WCBG and July 19 at CSU.

Lois also described the grant process through the Colorado Garden Foundation, that we will be pursuing to get funds to buy new plants for both gardens. It is a fairly straightforward application which involves two parts, i.e. the initial brief application and then a second more detailed application if the first is approved by the Foundation. It is hoped that we can obtain enough funding to pay for new plants for both of our display gardens.

Janet announced that we will be looking for one or more new Board members for 2018. Janet will be stepping down to become Past President, so the President spot will be vacant. Other Board members will be letting Janet know soon if they are staying on or retiring from the Board, so other positions may also be open. Everyone was encouraged to consider serving in some capacity.

Janet also showed the small booklet “Cactus of the Southwest” for which we will place a group order, if we can get enough people who want a copy. It describes native southwest cacti, shows pictures of each plant and its bloom, and describes where they normally grow. There was a sign-up sheet for anyone interested in ordering a copy.

We had a refreshment break and the plant raffle drawing. Don Campbell described those plants available for the drawing, and we had one silent auction plant, donated by Kate Weissenburger.

The program for this evening consisted of two DVD’s which described care and feeding of indoor cacti and succulents. The DVD’s covered all the basics, including soil needs, propagation, watering, light requirements, management of pests and disease, and appropriate selection of containers for the plants. Don Campbell answered questions after the program.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at approximately 8:45PM

Respectfully submitted, Deb Mallory

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2017 Chinle Cactus and Succulent Society Board

President: Janet Hassell Vice President: Kate Weissenburger Secretary: Deb Mallory Treasurer: Lisa Hamilton Garden Activities Coordinator: Lois Davidson Newsletter Editor: Kate Weissenburger Member at Large: Walt Scheer Program Committee: Shari Skeie MeetUp: Lisa Hamilton Web Site: Kate Weissenburger Don Campbell, Governance & Public Affairs

Chinle Cactus and Succulent Society usually meets the 2nd Thursday of each month at 6:30 pm. Meetings are held in the Unitarian Universalist Church

536 Ouray Ave., Grand Junction, CO. Guests are always welcome. Chinle Mailing Address: Chinle Cactus & Succulent Society, PO Box 233, Grand Junction, CO 81502

CHINLE C&SS WEBSITE: www.chinlecactusclub.org