Orange County Cactus & Succulent Society

Orange County Cactus and Succulent Society

When: Wednesday, September 23rd, 2026
Social time starts at 7:00 pm
Meeting starts at 7:30 pm

Location: Anaheim United Methodist Church
1000 State College Blvd
Anaheim, CA. 92806

(Meeting location is at the South East corner of the Church)

Visitors welcome!

Join us as we welcome Gary Duke, presenting: Cacti of Brazil.

Presentation: Cacti of Brazil.

Brazil in July 2025 – Brazil has many native rare Cacti especially in the states of Minas Gerais and Bahia.  Gary describes over 41 species of Cacti, including Arrojadoa, Cereus, Cipocereus, Coleocephalocereus, Discocactus, Fachairoa, Lagenosocereus, Leocereus, Melocatus, Micranthocereus, Pereskia, Pierrebraunia, Pilosocereus, Stephanodereus and Tacinga. He also describes several wild flowers. Come and see them all in their native habitat.

Biography:

Gary Duke was on the Board of Directors to the Cactus and Succulent Society of America for over 8 years. He has been collecting cacti and succulents for over 50 years. He’s an avid collector of cacti and also collects Tylecodons and Dudleyas. He is a retired Air Force officer with a doctoral degree in physics. During his military career, he moved his original and ever expanding collection of less than about 30 plants from Illinois, where he grew up, to Omaha, NE, Dayton, OH (where he started their first C&S Society, which is now defunct), San Pedro, CA, Montgomery, AL and Albuquerque, NM where he had been show chairman. He has also been President of the South Coast Cactus and Succulent Society and the Long Beach Cactus Society.  Following his military career, he worked as a program manager for Boeing for 16 years.  He has over 1000 different species in his private collection and enjoys propagating them. One can view some plants in his collection on his Instagram site: garyduke53. He frequently gives slide presentations throughout southern California, including being invited to speak at the Huntington Botanical Gardens and at the Denver Cactus and Succulent Society.  He has traveled to Aruba, Peru, Baja Mexico, Bolivia, Argentina and Chile to see cacti and succulents in habitat.

Orange County Cactus and Succulent Society

When: Wednesday, August 26th, 2026
Social time starts at 7:00 pm
Meeting starts at 7:30 pm

Location: Anaheim United Methodist Church
1000 State College Blvd
Anaheim, CA. 92806

(Meeting location is at the South East corner of the Church)

Visitors welcome!

Join us as we welcome Al Klein, presenting: Growing Fat Plants.

Presentation: Growing Fat Plants.

Of all the succulents available in the market place, my favorite type is “Fat Plants” or caudiciforms.  These plants are characterized by a part of the plant that basically is swollen and used for water storage and from this part a thin vine or stem grows. A perfect example of this is Dioscorea elephantipes, however there are many other plants that fall into this classification, such as Euphorbias.  It is a broad classification that can also include Pachycaul trees, such as Ficus palmeri.  Other plants also have caudexes such as cycads; however, these plants will be reserved for a discussion another time.  In my opinion “Fat Plants” are some of the most unusual plants on this planet. These magical plants have found a way to adapt to some of the most inhospitable environments our world has to offer. As a result of these adaptations, they can be a challenge to grow, duplicating natural growing conditions, while growing in containers. For myself this is the attraction!

There are many species that are perfect for first time growers, such as, many forms of Euphorbias, Dioscorea, Cyphostemmas, cucurbits, Pachypodiums, and a plethora of other species to many to mention here. My personal favorite is Dioscorea elephantipes. This is the plant that started it all for me! I had recently moved to California and was visiting a houseplant store in a strip mall, when there it was, a plant that looked like a tortoise with a vine growing out of it, I was hooked!

Biography:

Al’s interest in the natural world started in his childhood.  Growing up in Chicago he would make regular visits to Field Museum of Natural History, and read books on the natural sciences. His favorite hobbies were growing exotic plants like cacti, and collecting fossils, minerals, and insects.

After moving to California at the age of 17 he found his passion in plants.  He was amazed at the diversity and beauty of the flora of California.  He was employed by South Shores Nursery in San Clemente California while attending California State Polytechnic University in Pomona.  He received his Bachelor of Science in Ornamental Horticulture with emphasis in landscape design and retail nursery management.

After graduation he was hired by Rodgers Gardens in Corona Del Mar, California. Within a year he was promoted to Nursery Manager.  Soon Al had the opportunity to start a new business.  He was asked to help open a nursery-gift shop in Escondido California, called Canterbury Gardens and Gifts. Soon after he was asked to be a partner in the business. Al recently retired from Canterbury Gardens after 35 years of service. Al is now running his nursery business, Botanic Wonders full time, his true passion!  Botanic Wonders specializes in growing and selling of rare and exotic plants, including cacti, cycads, and rare succulents.

Orange County Cactus and Succulent Society

When: Wednesday, June 24th, 2026
Social time starts at 7:00 pm (Plants for sale, raffle tickets, socialize, mini-show judging)
Meeting starts at 7:30 pm

Location: Anaheim United Methodist Church
1000 State College Blvd
Anaheim, CA. 92806
(meeting room at the southeast corner of the church campus)

Visitors welcome!
Light refreshments will be provided

Josh Allen & Dudleyas

Presentation: Josh Allen of Fairview Nursery will give us an in-depth look at Orange County’s only endemic native plant and a fun photo journey through the exciting world of Dudleyas.

Biography:  Josh’s plant story began in 2005 when he visited East Africa with his wife and was bitten by the exotic plant bug. Soon after, he visited Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Australia and many more countries. Josh was inspired to start growing the more unusual plant species after seeing such amazingly beautiful and unique plants in their native habitat on his travels.

His obsession with breeding and growing plants from seed quickly became a passion.  Soon this passion blossomed into Fairview Nursery and Gardens founded in 2012. Fairview currently grows over 300 species of plants ranging from the entry level to the hard-to-find collector plants and everything in between. Their goal is to be one of the best rare plant nurseries in Southern California with an emphasis on Aloe, cacti and succulents.

Iosh’s main passion and dedication is hybridizing and breeding Aloes. This has been a very exciting and rewarding journey developing unique new Aloe hybrids for the nursery. Aloes and Dudleyas are a big part of what they do and have gained enormous popularity.
As a hard-working nurseryman, husband and father of two boys, Josh is self-taught and studies at the college of “Mother Nature” as he travels into the field looking for his next adventure.

Follow Josh on Instagram: @fairviewplants
Visit Fairview Nursery: www.fairviewnursery.com

Orange County Cactus and Succulent Society

When: Wednesday, May 27th, 2026
Social time starts at 7:00 pm
Meeting starts at 7:30 pm

Location: Anaheim United Methodist Church
1000 State College Blvd
Anaheim, CA. 92806

(Meeting location is at the South East corner of the Church)

Visitors welcome!

Join us as we welcome Steven Hammer, presenting: Crassula.

Presentation: Steven will present the genus Crassula.

Biography: 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.

Orange County Cactus and Succulent Society

When: Wednesday, April 22nd, 2026
Social time starts at 7:00 pm
Meeting starts at 7:30 pm

Location: Anaheim United Methodist Church
1000 State College Blvd
Anaheim, CA. 92806

(Meeting location is at the South East corner of the Church)

Visitors welcome!

Join us as we welcome Jeff Moore, presenting: California Succulent Road Trip.

Presentation: This presentation came about as an idea for a zoom presentation during the time of COVID. Having made a round of talks to cactus clubs in New England in 2018, I learned that whenever those succulent enthusiasts wanted to take a snowbird escape trip to see some of their favorite cacti and succulents, they almost always thought first and foremost of visiting Arizona.

I also love visiting Arizona, but after making multiple California speaking trips in support of my books, I had gained an even greater appreciation for the quality of growers, nurseries and botanical gardens in the Golden State. So, I created this presentation as a commercial to consider opting instead to follow a loose plant for a ten-day to two-week trip, flying into the Bay Area, spending a few days visiting the Ruth Bancroft and Berkeley botanic gardens, a few local collectors and nurseries, then proceeding down the coast, with stops in Monterey, then ideally down through Big Sur (if that option ever comes back), to San Luis Obispo, then visiting Lotusland and Aloes in Wonderland in Santa Barbara.

Time permitting, continuing onto some of the famous gardens in LA, then finishing off in San Diego with private gardens/collections and wholesale growers. The presentation toggles between beautiful images of private gardens, nurseries and botanic gardens, showcasing primarily succulents both containerized and in-ground, along with some other xerophytic plants.

After giving zoom presentations to a few east coast clubs (one is planning to do this trip in reverse in conjunction with the San Diego C&S convention in 2025), it occurred to me that those of us in California often find ourselves sequestered in our corners of the state and would benefit from at least some version of this adventure – sort of a succulent excuse for a coastal California road trip (not shown but mentioned are some of the other highlights of such a trip – places to eat, breweries/wineries, museums, etc…).

Biography: I have owned and operated Solana Succulents near San Diego for 32 years, and the soon-to-be released Dudleya book will be my sixth and I think penultimate book on succulent plants. Married with two adult sons, but I’m the only plant geek in the immediate family.

Reminder: Current Paid Members get early entry at 11:30 am

Join or renew here

Orange County Cactus and Succulent Society

When: Wednesday, February 25th, 2026
Social time starts at 7:00 pm
Meeting starts at 7:30 pm

Location: Anaheim United Methodist Church
1000 State College Blvd
Anaheim, CA. 92806

(Meeting location is at the South East corner of the Church)

Visitors welcome!

Join us as we welcome Adam Baker, presenting: Astrophytum, and the Man who fell in love with a genus.

Presentation: I will be discussing this amazing genus and would love to answer questions you may have specific to Astrophytum. I will share my experiences through the years and how I tackled challenges in my own microclimate. In addition to the slide presentation, I will bring some plants from my own collection so you can see why I fell in love. I will also have some plants to sell as well!

Biography: Adam Is a father and a husband before anything else. A software developer by trade and in the technology field for almost two decades.

Cacti and succulents only became part of his life in the last 6 years as he discovered the unique plants at his in-law’s house in West Covina. Since then, he has devoted a good amount of the little free time one has left with a toddler, to learning, caring for, and growing his collection. As he started to learn about and fall in love with each genus, one kept growing and that was Astrophytum.

Adam has Astrophytum plants of different form, variety, and cultivar that he cares for in his greenhouse. In addition to that over the past few years he began pollinating and harvesting seeds from his own plants crossing specific species to form some wonderful hybrids and varieties. Adam grows Astrophytum from seed and has learned a lot about care, climate conditions, pest control, and death while growing this genus of cacti. Adam still considers himself an amateur and is constantly humbled by many in the world of cacti & succulents, specifically Astrophytum. He is known as @bakersuccs on Instagram. His website is bakersuccs.com and always enjoys geek-ing out over plants!

Orange County Cactus and Succulent Society

When?
Wednesday, January 14th, 2026
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!

Join us as we welcome Kelly Griffin, presenting: Australia 2025

Presentation:

We spent the better part of last October 2024 in the Cape York region of Queensland Australia.  We saw lots of very cool and interesting plants.  I was invited back again on short notice this September 2025 to explore the Northern Territory.

We got to visit so many incredible endemic and true plant oddities in nature,  It was overwhelming honestly.  On this trip, we drove some 3,300 miles in a very zigzag manner all the way from Darwin Australia to Brisbane. I had also opted to fly home through Vancouver only to save money on the flight but in so doing adding another 2,400 miles to an already ridiculous total of 22,100 miles for the trip ~ what a world!

As exhausting as that much flying and driving is, the rewards of seeing all that we did is pretty special.

I will share just the highlights of this trip made this year “down-under”.  This program includes, Bottletrees, Cycads, grass trees and a myriad of other living things both flora and fauna that we found.

Orange County Cactus and Succulent Society

Thank you to all our great volunteers and members, 2025 was a great year for our club!

Happy Holidays…..see you all in 2026