Recent events!
Friday, January 20, 2012: Woody Minnich talked about Namibia, a dry place in a wet time.
Woody's comments follow:
This is the trip that Steve Brack and I enjoyed together this last May.
I suspect that between our two presentations we should cover everything
that we did and saw and I am sure that our two styles will be very
different. I can't wait to share my vision of our trip with Steve and I
hope the club won't mind having me doing a second presentation. This
should be a very entertaining talk and, as usual, I will include
everything about Namibia from the people, animals, plants to the
landscapes. Namibia a very beautiful and magical place. This will also
be the first time showing the not so well known "sociable desert rats"
also known as Team Namibia!??
More information is available on this talk and on Woody Minnich
Friday, November 18, 2011: Peru, from the Sea to the Sky
by Woody Minnich. Peru is a country of strong contrasts.
The coastal plain is very dry and foggy with many cacti. The dry
west side of the Andes is filled with cacti, bromeliads, etc. The
high Andes has freezing temps every night of the year and a host of
remarkable plants. Off to the east lies the Amazon basin, a rain
forest that has a few cacti and lots of orchids, bromeliads, etc.
On Saturday, October 8, 2011 more than 20 people had a chance to tour
the greenhouses at Mesa Garden, Belen NM, The primary draw for
the
trip were the flowering Mesembs. Thousands of plants were flowering!
Friday, August 19, 2011 - Steven Brack had a presentation on his recent 3 week
trip to Namibia in May this year. The first week was in the south and
southwest which is mostly mesemb country with lots of Lithops,
Conophytums and other small succulents like Othonna, Tylecodon and many
Aloes. The final 2/3 of the trip was in the northern half of the
country which is summer rainfall, rolling hills and low mountains
covered with millions of Commiphora and other bonsai type trees.
There are also many large caudex plants like Pachypodium, Adenia,
Adenium and many others. Cyphostemma, in the grape family, form a
small, very fat caudex to huge massive beasts that weigh tons. In
the far north things get very wild, not an organized game park, but
just wild with all the usual African animals and several tribes of
people that have lived here for many thousands of years. One
tribe is still primarily stone age, part hunter gatherers and part
herders. Visiting Namibia is a nature lovers paradise, a huge set of
plants, many animals, birds, insects, etc. It has huge areas of
wild wilderness, with a slight risk from malaria and lions.
June 17, 2011 - Ralph Peters discussed 2 recent trips to Big
Bend Ranch State Park in Texas slightly west of Big Bend National
Park. The geology is fantastic including Solitario and there are many interesting and unique cacti too! Echinocereus viridiflorus v. canus is found only in Solitario.
May 20, 2011 - Sig Lodwig talked about the Big Bend National Park in flower. He
saw lots of wildflowers and many species of cacti in flower too!
April 9 and 10, 2011 - Spring Show and Sale at the Albuquerque Garden Center at 10120 Lomas
NE. The Show and Sale was open from 10:00 AM until 4:00 PM on Saturday and Sunday. More information here!
Show contact: Dan Finley at finley@unm.edu
Sale contact: Howard Sample at hsample.pharmd@yahoo.com
February and March 2011 - Discussion of the extremely cold weather (-10
F and colder) and its effect on landscape and greenhouse plants.
November 2010 - A slide show of a fantastic cactus and succulent plant garden in the Andes was the topic of the presentation.
August 2010 Greg Smith discussed growing plants
from seeds which was followed by a seed planting lab.
Saturday, June 5, 2010 Santa Fe and Los Alamos field trip!
We visited the community garden (including cacti & succulents)
that John Oberhauser has organised. Sig Lodwig in Los Alamos invited us
up for a visit to his marvelous greenhouse and garden.
May 2010 - Jean Brody--"Travels
through Maya County".
February 2010 - Guillermo Rivera presented a talk on the cacti and
bromeliads of Peru, wonderful ancient archeological ruins like Machu
Picchu and fantastic scenic areas.
January 2010 - Sig Lodwig likes to have some plants
blooming every month (day?) of the year! He talked about his
choices for free-flowering cactus and succulent plants and how he
grows
them.
November 2009 - The program showed an outdoor cactus and
succulent garden in Colorado Springs. Leo Chance has packed his yard
with many surprising cacti including surpises like
Lobivias, Mammillarias,
Notocactus, Gymnocalycium, and Echinocereus. Surprising
succulents include Lithops, Othonnas, Euphorbias,
and many other mesembs and South Africa material. The photos taken are
very impressive, with many plants in flower, so very pretty.
October 2009 - John Oberhausen talked about the
CommunityGarden/Outdoor classroom at the Eldorado School Community
Garden in SE Santa Fe. Many species of cacti and succulents can be
grown in this cold climate! The cactus garden has received support from
the CSSNM.
August 2009 The Jewel Cacti of Mexico Woody Minnich talked about all the miniature "gems" native to
Mexico; cacti like Turbinicarpus, Epithelantha, Ariocarpus, and many
tiny Mammillarias. They are all the tiny cacti that hide so well from
view. He showed photos taken in nature so you could really see what
they should look like.
June 2009 Spring in South Africa, Steve
Brack discussed his trip to South Africa in August 2008.
Because of good rains, masses of wild flowers covered the
landscape.
March 2009 Cacti of the New World: Succulents with Areoles, Their
Growth Patterns and Lifestyles
Daniel Finley discussed the habitat (and some cultivated) photos of
many succulent plants, especially cacti (endemic to the western
hemisphere). Interspersed among the pictures are some discussions about
their origins, unusual metabolism, distribution, and lifestyles, as
well as Latin names, but no exams.
February 2009: Ralph Peters discussed a backpacking trip
into the Grand Canyon last April. Many plants were growing and
flowering including fields of sego lilies, agaves, opuntias,
Echinocereus engelmanii, ....! The scenery is pretty nice too!
January 2009: Our speaker Woody Minnich discussed a recent trip to
Brazil and all the fantastic cacti and succulents in their dry regions.
November 2008: A talk was given by Panayoti Kelaidis from
the
Denver Botanical Garden. He specializes is making outdoor
rockeries using hardy succulents and cacti. His real emphasis is
discovering new kinds of succulents (especially from Africa) that will
grow outdoors in
Denver.