When?
April 24th, 2024 Wednesday
Social time starts at 7:00 pm
Meeting starts at 7:30pm

Location: Anaheim United Methodist Church
1000 State College Blvd
Anaheim, CA

Visitors welcome!  Light refreshments will be served.

In the plant world it’s rare to talk about the distinction between “growers” and “collectors,” but there’s a real distinction, and an important interdependence between the two. I consider myself a grower: I produce new plants from seed, and about 95% of my collection is seed grown. I see seedwork as the most essential part of the hobby, because it is through seeds that we get to experience the diversity that exists within a population of plants, and where you discover that each plant is an individual, with unique characteristics. Within cacti, you see variations in spine count, length, and color; tubercle depth, count; flower size and hue, and so on. In succulents like aloe, you can select for spotting, leaf color, and bumps… In fact, every group offers an array of variable traits, and these can be exploited! Selecting for traits within a species is one route to making plants that are more beautiful than those found in nature.

(Read more in our April Newsletter)

Come visit our first Sale event of 2024. Some new vendors will be joining us with new pottery and plants. Come find that must have plant or that perfect pottery you have been looking for. Many options for top dressings will also be available.

There will be no club meeting in March.

When?
February 28th, 2024 Wednesday
Social time starts at 7:00 pm
Meeting starts at 7:30pm

Location: Anaheim United Methodist Church
1000 State College Blvd
Anaheim, CA

Visitors welcome!  Light refreshments will be served.

Steven Hammer has been admiring plant life since he fell in love with a half-hidden scarlet canna at the age of 3. It was passionate and mutual. In 1961, at the age of 10, he moved on to Lithops, Mammillarias and Haworthias; one hopes Miss Canna found more suitable suitors.

In 1978 Steven began to hybridize Conophytums, and for some still-unexplained reason also began writing about succulents instead of composing the Harlequin novels for which he was plainly destined. He’s still at it! In his spare time, he runs the Sphaeroid Institute along with his co-waterer and collaborator Oakes Austin.

Kelly Griffin will be giving a presentation on his recent travels.

An adventure to Namibia…….

My talk will center on my most recent long trip to South Africa and Namibia. In May of this year, I traveled with Tom Knapik and Joey Betzler to Cape Town and then made a giant loop from southern RSA up to the Brandberg in Namibia and then back to Cape Town.  That is a distance of nearly 1000 miles if you drove direct.  We did not do that.  We covered some 4500 kilometers.  Although this is a travel log, I hope to impart some helpful info regarding the cultivation of the plants from these areas.  We also had the opportunity to visit some special people on our way to special plants.  We found some truly magnificent things including Welwitschias, Aloes, Lithops, Pachypodiums and everything in between.  I look forward to sharing this with you all. –Kelly Griffin

Our meetings are now on Wednesdays

When?
June 28th, 2023 WEDNESDAY
Social time starts at 7:00 pm
Meeting starts at 7:30pm

Where?
Anaheim United Methodist Church
1000 State College Blvd
Anaheim, CA

Meeting Information

‘Dudleyas: Our Native Succulents’ by Dean Karras

Dudleya is a genus of soft succulents that had often been overlooked until a recent explosion of interest in them by succulent collectors and native plant enthusiasts alike. Southern California is their center of geographic distribution and a hot spot of their diversity. However, Dudleya occur as far south as the tip of the Baja Peninsula, as far north as Oregon, and as far east as the Mojave Desert and Sonoran Desert regions of Nevada and Arizona respectively. In this program, Dean will share his field observations of a variety of different species both south of the border and in several US states occupying biomes as diverse as coastal chaparral, low desert, and high elevation pine and oak forest woodlands.

Dean Karras began collecting and growing cacti from seed as a hobby in 2008. He has been a member of the Palomar Cactus & Succulent Society since 2017, where he now serves as Vice President, and a member of the San Diego Cactus & Succulent Society since 2019, where he now serves on the Board of Directors. Some of his favorite succulent genera are: aloe, agave, Dudleya, Trichocereus, Echinocereus, Astrophytum, and Ferocactus. Dean is also partial to mesembs, caudiciforms, and xeric bromeliads. His passion for plants extends far beyond succulents to include organic gardening & permaculture practices, natives, edibles, and ethnobotanically significant plants. He realized his long-standing dream of owning his own nursery to serve the local community when he opened Gnosis Nursery in July of 2020, which he now runs full-time. When not busy propagating and selling plants, Dean can be found exploring and photographing the desert southwest and Baja, Mexico.

Let’s be sure to give our guest a warm welcome!

Mini-show plants

May Cactus:  Parodia/Notocactus

Succulent: Agave

Please participate in the mini show by bringing in two to four plants for judging.

Learn more about our Mini-Show Guidelines

Our meetings are now on Wednesdays

When?
May 24, 2023 WEDNESDAY
Social time starts at 7:00 pm
Meeting starts at 7:30pm

Where?
Anaheim United Methodist Church
1000 State College Blvd
Anaheim, CA

Meeting Information

‘Epiphytic Cacti: Select Species, Propagation, and Cultivation’ by Dylan Hannon

We look forward to a fun, informative, and interactive meeting. This presentation will be part slide presentation and part demonstration. Dylan will focus on the history and diversity among the genera Epiphyllum, Schlumbergera, and Strophocactus, with photos of some of the standouts and information on their cultivation. Some stem cuttings will be distributed. If you grow epiphytic cacti, we encourage you to bring in cuttings to share.

Mini-show plants

May Cactus: Turbinicarpus/Thelocactus/Stenocactus

Succulent: Caudiciform Euphorbia

Please participate in the mini show by bringing in two to four plants for judging.

Learn more about our Mini-Show Guidelines

Our meetings are now on Wednesdays

When?
April 26, 2023 WEDNESDAY
Social time starts at 7:00 pm
Meeting starts at 7:30pm

Where?
Anaheim United Methodist Church
1000 State College Blvd
Anaheim, CA

Meeting Information

Guest Speaker Russell Wagner – Canary Islands – Flora in the Extremes

Mini-show plants

April Cactus: Rebutia/Sulcorebutia, Succulent: Tylecodon/Cotyledon                           Show-and-Tell table: Bring in a few plants from the Canary Islands

Please participate in the mini show by bringing in two to four plants for judging.

Learn more about our Mini-Show Guidelines

Our meetings are now on Wednesdays

When?
February 22, 2023 WEDNESDAY
Social time starts at 7:00 pm
Meeting starts at 7:30pm

Where?
Anaheim United Methodist Church
1000 State College Blvd
Anaheim, CA

Meeting Information

Guest Speaker Kelly Griffin “Plant Exploration and Plant Creation”

“Plant Exploration and Plant Creation….”  Kelly will share with us his work at Altman Specialty Plants as the Plant Development Manager. His work includes hybridization and propagation utilizing state of the art propagation methods. He will introduce us to their tissue culture lab and procedures. As always, Kelly’s presentations are very enjoyable with superb photos and loads of information. He will bring in some of his creations for us so be sure to be there!

Mini-show plants

Monstrose cactus and monstrose succulents are the mini show plants.

Please participate in the mini show by bringing in two to four plants for judging.

Learn more about our Mini-Show Guidelines